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Teaching Last of the Mohicans

Mohicans, mo' problems.

  • Activities: 13
  • Quiz Questions: 167

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The Last of the Mohicans wasn't just one of the first novels to employ stereotypes. It was also one of the most prominent and popular. Also, and possibly even more destructively, The Last of the Mohicans helped perpetuate the idea that Native Americans were a thing of the past. This is the novel that helped brand Native Americans as Other, and as over.

But don't get us wrong: it's still a book with historical and literary merit. Big time. It also signals James Fenimore Cooper's attempt to address white settlers' destruction of Native lands—points for effort, Coop. Still, the most interesting thing about this novel is undoubtedly how it helped create stereotypes that still persist today. Here at Shmoop, we take the novel seriously, but will also help you with discussing its problematic aspects with your (no doubt highly skeptical) high school students.

In this guide, you'll find

  • an adventure activity based on survival skill research.
  • an examination of positive and negative stereotypes in the novel.
  • a collaborative project that analyzes and presents a news story about the final battle scene in the novel.

Despite the challenges of tackling a controversial book like this, our Shmoop guide will ensure you and your students make it out of the mean ol' Adirondack woods alive.

What's Inside Shmoop's Literature Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring literature to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

  • 13 – 18 Common Core-aligned activities to complete in class with your students, including detailed instructions for you and your students
  • Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students
  • Reading quizzes for every chapter, act, or part of the text
  • Resources to help make the book feel more relevant to your 21st-century students
  • A note from Shmoop's teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the text and how you can overcome the hurdles

Want more help teaching Teaching Last of the Mohicans?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.



Instructions for You

Objective: American broadcast journalism is a fickle thing, and each generation seems to be increasingly disenchanted with media institutions that they consider to be corrupt and untrustworthy.

Imagine with us now how news stations might have reported on the final epic battle in The Last of the Mohicans. The news stations would have had a hootenanny with the whole thing. Not only that, but people would definitely (maybe) have had a different understanding of what was going down.

In this lesson, students will create their own breaking news story for a TV network. In groups, students will collaborate to analyze and present a news story about the final battle scene in the novel.

The lesson will take two hours: one hour to collaborate, create a script, and practice. The next hour for each group to present.

Materials Needed: At least ten copies of The Last of the Mohicans and access to the internet for obtaining examples of benign news stories. Here are a few examples to get you started: "How Brian Williams Reported the News of His Daughter's New Job at NBC" and "Reporters Hang on for Dear Life in Hurricane Sandy."

Additionally, it'd spice the lesson up if you could locate and add in some clips from your local news station. Students will enjoy seeing some examples of the news media from their own area.

Step 1: Ask students why they think people go to TV news for information. What are people looking for when they watch TV news? What kind of questions do news outlets (try) and answer?

Step 2: Play the news clips for the class. These will help students see how a TV news broadcast is organized, and what type of information is presented.

Step 3: Admittedly, the battle scenes in The Last of the Mohicans are the best part. It's easy to be drawn into the action with the characters you've come to know. The final battle scene in Chapter 32 is pretty intense. What if modern reporters were thrown into the mix? Things just got real.

Continue the discussion with students regarding the TV news, but bring it back to the text. Ask: What kind of facts and stories from Chapter 32 could reporters gather to convey a strong sense of the battle? What do you think the reporters would have considered important information to relay to the public?

Step 4: Students will begin creating their own breaking news story for a TV network. In groups, students will collaborate to analyze, report on, and present a news story from chapter 32 in The Last of the Mohicans.

Step 5: Break students into groups of four or five. Give each group around fifteen minutes to become reacquainted with Chapter 32's important battle scene. Give them the worksheet titled "Breaking News Guide."

Students will be collaborating in their groups to create a screenplay (script) for their newscast that will be presented in front of the class. As they read, remind students to answer the important questions contained in their guide:

  • What is the situation?
  • Who is involved?
  • How did the situation come about?
  • Where is the battle taking place?
  • Why is the battle taking place?
  • What does this battle mean for the settlers, Huron tribe, and Mohican tribe?
  • What does this battle mean for the viewers?

Each news broadcast should last seven to ten minutes.

Then, let your students be creative with character interpretation and the set-up of their presentation. Here are the other important guidelines from their worksheets that will help students analyze the climax of the story and pick out main events:

  • Have a news anchor or two introduce the news story (and perhaps use cheesy puns).
  • Include an interview segment with Gamut on what he saw, and how he grew as a frontiersman due to this battle. What can Gamut tell the viewers about what he learns about the frontier?
  • Check out Chapter 32 and find quotes that help capture the climatic appeal of this breaking story.
  • Interview Magua. Ask questions that demonstrate how he might have been different under other circumstances. What drove him to be dangerous, treacherous, and scary?
  • Check out Chapter 33 to give viewers a look at what this battle means for the future of the Huron and Mohican people.

Instructions for Your Students

We don't know about you, but we're pretty sure that if you threw a reporter into the middle of the Huron and Mohican battle, they probably wouldn't have made it out alive. In this climactic scene of The Last of the Mohicans, there's a lot of "breaking news" to cover. Cora and Uncas fall. There is revenge, blood, and devastatingly sad cries from the middle of the forest.

Cooper is really laying it on thick in this battle scene. He's trying to give the reader some important feels so that we not only see his characters grow and change, but also gain new perspectives on the frontier and consider the disappearing tribes of America.

Step 1: Do your parents watch your local news station promptly at ten every evening? Why do you think people watch or read the news? What are people looking for when they watch the news? What kind of questions do news outlets (try) and answer?

Step 2: Check out these news clips. What kind of information are they presenting to the viewer? Why is the information important? Does every clip include a news anchor?

Step 3: We know the battle scenes in The Last of the Mohicans are the best part. It's easy to be drawn into the action with the characters you've come to know (and love—admit it). The final fight scene in Chapter 32 is pretty intense. What if modern reporters were thrown into the mix? Look out! Things just got real.

Think back to Chapter 32. What kind of facts and stories would reporters gather from this battle? What do you think the reporters would have considered important information to relay to the public if they were on the site of the battle?

Step 4: In groups, you'll be creating your own breaking news story for a TV network. You'll collaborate to analyze, report on, and present a news story from Chapter 32's climactic battle scene in The Last of the Mohicans. You'll be put into news groups, your teacher will give you a "Breaking News Guideline" worksheet, and you'll start reporting.

Step 5: Read Chapter 32 and gather important, newstastic information to report on. Then, together as a team, create a screenplay (script) for your newscast that will be presented in front of the class.

As you reread Chapter 32, be sure to use these questions from the guide as brain snacks to get the ol' neurons firing:

  • What is the situation?
  • Who is involved?
  • How did the situation come about?
  • Where is the battle taking place?
  • Why is the battle taking place?
  • What does this battle mean for the settlers, Hurons, and Mohican tribe?
  • What does this battle mean for the viewers?

Your breaking news segment must include these elements:

  • A news anchor or two to introduce the news story.
  • A segment where you interview Gamut on what he saw, and how he grew as a frontiersman due to this battle. What can Gamut tell the viewers about what he learns about the frontier?
  • A quote from Chapter 32 that helps capture the climactic appeal of this breaking story.
  • An interview with Magua where you ask him questions that demonstrate how he might have been different under other circumstances. What drove him to be dangerous, treacherous, and scary?
  • A look ahead at Chapter 33 that gives viewers an idea at what this battle means for the future of the Huron and Mohican people.

Presentations should be between seven and ten minutes.