The Relationship Between Leatherstocking And Mohegan

This friendship starts to show elements of what can be described as the beginning of a hybridization of two cultures, or in other words, a type of transculturation. The symbolic friendship between Leatherstocking and John the Mohegan becomes a sort of happy medium between the white man and the savage. In Chapter VII Cooper explains, “From his long association with the white-men, the habits of Mohegan, were a mixture of the civilized and savage states...he had acquired new wants, and his dress was a mixture of his Native and European fashions,” (85). Both have elements of each other’s cultures. Natty Bumpoo is a white man who embodies many characteristics of a savage, while John Mohegan is an Indian who has converted to Christianity and can
understand English.