James Fenimore Cooper by an Indian chief and who after several years is eventually returned to her parents. Often, he gives contrasting views of Native characters to emphasize their potential for good, or conversely, their proclivity for mayhem. "Last of the Mohicans" includes both the character of Magua, who is devoid of almost any redeeming qualities, as well as Chingachgook, the last chief of the Mohicans, who is portrayed as noble, courageous, and heroic. In 1831, Cooper was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician. According to Tad Szulc, Cooper was a devotee of Poland's causes (uprisings to regain
James Fenimore Cooper Pathfinder" a masterpiece and professed great admiration for Cooper's portrayal of nature, only equalled in his view by Walter Scott. Mark Twain famously criticized "The Deerslayer" and "The Pathfinder" in his satirical but shrewdly observant essay, "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" (1895), which portrays Cooper's writing as clichéd and overwrought. Cooper was also criticized heavily for his depiction of women characters in his work. James Russell Lowell, Cooper's contemporary and a critic, referred to it poetically in "A Fable for Critics", writing, "... the women he draws from one model don't vary / All sappy as maples and flat as a