ABSTRACT
The Pathfinder is the only Leatherstocking tale in which Natty Bumppo at all resembles the wavering hero of a Scott novel. For Scott as for James Fenimore Cooper the novel was essentially a love story, but Scott transformed the genteel hero into a comparatively mediocre figure who was overshadowed by, and caught in between, more vigorous and firmly defined personalities. Professor Smith goes on to argue that in The Pathfinder Cooper set out deliberately to make Leatherstocking the romantic lead so as to elevate him to a status commensurate with his importance as a 'symbol of forest freedom and virtue'. The Pathfinder, with its less ambitious scope and its focus on personal rather than communal or even national problems, presented a new though less severe challenge to Cooper's ability to unify and structure his fictional materials. He met this challenge by creating a heroine who could replace the wavering hero of The Pioneers and the Everard Waverley novels.
