A Feminist Reading of The Last of the Mohicans Although it is most often studied as a romance or adventure novel, the most dominant feature of The Last of the Mohicans is neglected: phallicism. Cooper's patriarchal vision of society derives from this phallicism. In the novel, men are symbolically distinguished from women by their possession of weapons (the phallic symbol), and men are separated from each other by the size of their weapons. The more powerful men are those who carry larger and longer weapons. The main character, Hawkeye, has "...a rifle of great length..." (32). In fact, the rifle is so long and so deadly in the scout's hands (he has "...a natural turn with a rifle..."), that his enemies give it the name "La Longue Carabine". The explorer symbolizes the greatest male power in the novel, and is therefore also the greatest protector of women. As the size of other characters' weapons decreases, so does their generative power. Only slightly shorter than the scout in terms of weapon length are Uncas and Chingachgook, who, while carrying knives, also wield long shotguns. Uncas is closest in length to the scout, as he carries his old rifle with him: hearing a shot in the woods, the scout recognizes Uncas' shot, saying "'...I carried the gun myself until I a better thing has been offered'" (230). So, even though Uncas has a weapon of considerable length, it is still a little short compared to the scout. Next on the length list is Duncan Heyward, who begins the novel carrying a simple pistol, his generative power growing as the story progresses: towards the end of the novel he demonstrates that he can handle a shotgun almost as well as the 'explorer. When the group leaves for the first time... in the center of the card... with his weapon on his shoulder, "the scout preserves everyone's honor by killing Magua with a 'Kill-deer' blast." (401) In this novel overflowing with phallic imagery, it is clear that power lies in weapons, and size matters. Without weapons, Gamut protects no one only when he exchanges his pistol for his rifle, even Uncas dies after abandoning his rifle In contrast, Chingachgook keeps his weapon and stays alive and Hawkeye, the most powerful protector, is only vulnerable when he has no "Kill-deer" in his hands society, the man with the longest gun is l. 'man who saves the day. When the big gun is gone, all society is vulnerable. Work cited: Cooper, James Fenimore NY: Signet Classic, 1962.