man without a cross

[Mark A. Mandel]

James Smith <jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM> writes:

>>>>>
Interestingly, I just finished the book about a week
ago.  I read being "without a cross" as a religious
statement, that Natty is not irreligious but equally
accepting and equally sceptical of Christianity and
the native beliefs.

There's a discussion of the phrase "man without a
cross" at
http://mohicanpress.com/wwwboard/messages1/7156.html

The posters there seem fundamentally to agree with
you, that it is a statement of racial purity, but also
that it implies much more.  To quote part of one entry
by "Elaine",

"This one line is enough to provide essays on who
Hawkeye is and is not. A brief summary; it identifies
him as a man with no actual religion (though he
espouses Christian principles), no family, no cultural
ties, no world in which he truly belongs. He is as he
is ... a natural man. The tragedy of it, as Cooper
intends it I think, is to place Hawkeye in a limbo. He
doesn't really belong to either culture by which he is
surrounded, nor does he really fit in either age ...
the old or the new. He is a loner; an island. A man of
the wilderness."
<<<<<

Thank you for that pointer; it led me into a fascinating discussion, to
which I have just added my $.02 (two years after the post I was
answering!).

And now, back to work.

-- Mark A. Mandel