The goal of this paper is to describe the characters of Duncan Heyward and Uncas in The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper and to compare them. I will state three similarities and three differences between the two of them. The assumptions will be made on the basis of their qualities presented in the text, the situations and the characters’ development throughout the story. Firstly, I will start with the necessary background knowledge we need to know about the story itself and I will provide a general characteristics of both of the characters as well as a summary of the information we have about them. The story takes place in the middle of French and Indian War in 1757, time when English and French fought for control of the colonies. The alliances with Indians were a French mean to gain an advantage over English. That is the setting where the two characters, Uncas and Duncan, meet. They present the duality employed in the …show more content…
Uncas is a young Indian, a son of Chingachgook. He is the last of his family which was a family of Indian chiefs and he is proud of it, he and his father do not let anyone to humiliate them. The first similarity between Duncan and Uncas lies in their noble origin. Both of them come from a sort of aristocratic environment but for both of them it accounts for something different. For Duncan, the sense of nobility is in honesty, reliability and gentleman behavior – a man should be first and foremost able to protect the helpless. It is visible when Duncan would be willing to jump in the middle of his enemies in order to help his friends which would mean a certain death for him. However, helping the women is what he perceives as his natural