The Comparative studies of The Last of the Mohicans and The Virginian

ABSTRACT

In western novels with the west movement. Cooper's "the last a heavily do people" and irving west of the Virginia man "was chosen for this paper analysis of object. And this is just the two works are in the development of the west movement there, climax and end. So from a standpoint, according to the text of the historic ", each work shows the different stages of the development of the west movement of the different historical background and images. On the other hand, see, according to "history text illustration" both works and have some similarities, such as capitalist ideology and capitalism of the yield, etc. History text help us a thorough reading literary text, and literary text also reflects the historical text did not reflect some of the historical facts. Finally, based on the analysis of the two works more, also can see the westward movement of the formation of the national character of American influence, such as independence, good human and culture development.

This paper will into motion is west of background, through the application of the new historical principle and relevant knowledge of the above mentioned two text carries on the analysis comparison, and through the analysis result of the westward movement the influence of national model body, improve the status of the novel in the western United States and more profound understanding of it. And to further understand the core of American culture and the history of west movement and its effect on America.

Key word: west movement; In western novels; Hero image; influence

摘要

西部小说随着西进运动的进行而发展着。库珀的《最后一个莫希干人》以及欧文·威斯特的《弗吉尼亚人》被选作本文分析的对象。而这两部作品恰恰分别出现在西进运动的发展，高潮和结束。因此从一个方面来看，根据“文本的历史性”，每一部作品都展示了西进运动发展的不同阶段的不同的历史背景和意象。从另一个方面看，根据“历史的文本性”这两部作品又都具有一些相似之处，比如资本主义意识形态以及资本主义下的屈服等等。历史文本帮助我们透彻地阅读文学文本，反之文学文本也反映了历史文本中没有反映出的一些史实。最后，通过对两部作品的分析比较，也可以看出西进运动对美国民族性格形成的影响，比如自立，好的人性以及文化的发展等方面。

本文将以西进运动为背景，通过运用新历史主义以及相关知识对上述提到的两部文本进行分析比较，从而通过分析结果来看西进运动对美国民族塑形的影响，提高美国西部小说的地位并更深刻地了解它。同时可以进一步了解美国的核心文化和西进运动的历史及其对美国的影响。

关键词：西进运动；西部小说；英雄形象；影响

CONTENT

ABSTRACT 1

摘要 2

Introduction 4

1.Two Western Novels at Two Different Stages of West Movement 5

1.1 The Reason and Significance for Choosing the Two Novels 5

1.2 The Legendary Frontier: The Last of the Mohicans 6

1.3 The Last Frontier: The Virginian 7

2.The Two Novels: Influence on the Nation Fashioning 9

2.1 Self-reliance 9

2.2 Good Human Nature 10

2.3The Development of Civilization 11

3.The changes of the heroic images 13

3.1 Hawkeye: a perfect and ideal hero 13

3.2 The Virginian: an unsuccessful mediator 16

Conclusion 20

References 22