Friday, September 9, 2011
Cooper's "The Slaughter of the Pigeons"
Cooper's "The Slaughter of the Pigeons" is excerpted out of a full-length novel, yet it manages to stand alone as an effective denouncement of avaricious human practices towards innocent non-human residents in a community (in this case, the pigeons). How is it that this few-page piece can stand by itself, when you don't even know these characters or their histories? What tactics does Cooper use in this brief episode to tell you a significant amount about these characters' traits and this community's general attitude about animals and about themselves and their rights?
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This piece manages to stand alone because the characters are to a certain degree archtypes: Elizabeth an innocent young women, Marmaduke and Edwards both standard stereotyped men; the former more aged and exaggerated than the latter, Natty, an older and wise man, who in this case is native american, that directly conveys the authors message. In addition, this tale conveys a general truth of the human condition beyond, rather than the development of the characters thus the 'who' matters less than the 'what' for the understandability of the message. Cooper hyperbolizes the hunting scene, for who would believe that anyone who would employ a canon on a herd of birds, thereby he attempts to illuminate the absurdity of the callous hunting of the pigeons.
ReplyDeleteCooper was able to take just a few characters and write a powerful story. We do not need to fully understand the characters in order to grasp the point of the story. Cooper uses the plot of the story to introduce us to the characters instead of using what we know about the characters to define the plot. For example, Cooper portrays Mr. Jones as someone who would fire a cannon into a flock of pigeons, and because of this, we do not need to know Mr. Jones' history in order to understand his character. We immediately recognize him as an arrogant man who does not value the life of animals. However, on the other side, Cooper gives us Leather-stocking. We recognize this man as the "hero" of the story, because he is the only person who seems to value life and not want to waste it. By writing in a story format, Cooper made his argument stronger than if he had just stated a fact and given reasons that supported the fact. Cooper did not come right out and say that slaughtering pigeons was wrong, but by portraying Mr. Jones as a "villain" and Leather-stocking as a "hero," Cooper made sure everyone would know how he felt about the subject. Even if Cooper had written about only these two men I believe he still would have gotten his point across, but by adding in many characters with attitudes similar to Mr. Jones he made the difference of Leather-stocking's attitude towards animals and nature even more pronounced.
ReplyDeleteCooper’s “The Slaughter of the Pigeons” is able to stand alone due to the author’s ability to show each character’s nature in just a few short paragraphs. He is able to show his readers an incredible amount of information in a very short amount of time by using what each character says, how they act, and how the things around them act. In other words, we don’t need to know each character’s varied past, because we see enough of them to know what to expect from each. For instance, when Leather-stocking is introduced, his character-type is shown, not over time by his actions, but, rather, in a few short, subtle lines using his dog’s reaction to the beginning of the hunt. Billy Kirby is presented as the exact opposite of Leather-stocking by the way he acts. He stands there, old musket on his shoulder, firing into the flock of birds without even trying to aim. When he begins to argue with Leather-stocking, we are presented with an even lower view of him as he forms his arguments out of ad-hominem attacks and challenges of skill.
ReplyDeleteBesides Cooper’s compact writing style, which allows him to give us allot of information in a short amount of time, this excerpt is able to stand alone because it involves every-day values, morals, and conflicts that we deal with every day. We don’t need a lengthy description of the feelings of each character, because we’ve all felt or experienced much the same things. We’ve all felt excitement over some upcoming event, just as Richard Jones did at the beginning of the hunt. We’ve all wanted to take revenge for something done to us, much like Billy Kirby did for the yearly devouring of his crops by the pigeons. Many of us have been convicted of our waste, yet have failed to know how to do anything else, just like Judge Marmaduke. These common ideas allow us to connect with the excerpt, even if we don’t know everything there is to know about the characters.
Knowledge of the characters and their histories is not necessary to appreciate "The Slaughter of the Pigeons" because we can interpret through each character's actions Cooper's underlying message. The villagers firing haphazardly into the flock is a universally ridiculous image. Between the slaying of multiple birds with one blind shot to the unleashing of the overpowered swivel canon on the flock, it isn't hard to notice Cooper's criticism of the settler's careless destruction of wildlife.
ReplyDeleteThe character of Leather-Stocking serves as an environmental exemplar. He skillfully demonstrates shooting down a single pigeon and uses the exploit to help imbue the villagers with a bit of conservationist wisdom, not to take from nature more than what they need. Having communicated the story's moral, Cooper closes the scene with the image of the multitude of dead or dying birds strewn across the ground. This image is a clear warning of the ugly pointlessness of the settler's slaughter.
Cooper’s piece manages to stand alone because he conveys his message by setting a scene, where the actions of the people are what matters. The backstory of the characters is unimportant, but he still conveys meaning behind the actions. He creates the good guys, and the bad guys—both of whom are relatable. I could see why the people were killing the pigeons the way they were, even though I might not agree with it. Actions speak louder than words is the philosophy Cooper used in this piece.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of some of the myths i was told as a child. Sort of like the Boy who cried wolf you can relate to the mischievousness of the boy and may even get a laugh out of his joke until the harm that is caused by it is explained to you. Parallel to that thought you can understand the enjoyment of the townsfolk picking off a nuisance with ease, again until the wrongness of the situation is explained to you.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Cooper's piece manages to stand alone because it presents the the author's point in a very short space. The scene involving the villagers mass-murdering the flock of pigeons allows the reader to easily see the motivations each of the major characters possesses. Mr. Jones and the other villagers can be seen for what they really are when they use guns and cannons to kill thousands upon thousands of helpless birds. Similarly, Natty Bumppo is revealed to be a wise, level-headed man who alone seems to realize the true horror taking place before him. His reaction to the situation, as unique as it is among his fellows, says a lot (alot) about both the character himself and the ideals Cooper presented through the character. I really enjoyed this selection and it caught my curiosity concerning the rest of the novel.
ReplyDeleteCooper's piece stands alone well because it has a universal resonance regardless of wether or not you know the characters or the story line. The idea of man as a genocidal force intent on bending nature to our will has been seen so often that it is almost a cliche. We understand because within our shared cultural conscience we can understand that our species has a history of destroying all that is natural and beautiful. We understand what is happening because it has happened before and will happen again. What allows the piece to have an effect on us is the varying reactions of people to the death of thousands of living things, some react with joy but others see it and are disgusted by the killing without even harvesting anything from the kills. The piece makes an interesting point about killing for killings sake, If we kill for the joy of it we become defined by our killing and the joy we take in the misery of others. If we as a people institutionalize killing it becomes easier and easier to kill for less and less of a reason until we start to kill for the joy of it.
ReplyDeleteIn this brief selection from, The Slaughter of Pigeons, James Cooper effectively demonstrates the wrong that is being done by describing the majestic birds that would fill the sky. Knowing the exact details of the characters Cooper uses is irrelevant because their history is not important to the situation at hand. The brief description given about the characters is enough to show the beliefs and their intentions. Cooper shows the contrast between Marmaduke and Edward with the Leather-stocking which in essence describes the avaricious mentality of most humans towards nonhuman residents.
ReplyDeleteCooper's "The Slaughter of Pigeons" is able to exist as a stand alone piece because it successfully gets the authors point across: that people believe that they are more important than other creatures on this planet. Cooper's depiction of all of the townspeople gathered in one place to kill innocent birds, and enjoying the experience like it was a festival, shows how little the townspeople care about other non-human residents. Cooper also depicts the protagonist of the story as one of the few who will only take what he needs to live and will not kill more birds than he needs to. The reader will want to relate to the protagonist of the story and will then not want to take more than what they need, which will give the reader more respect for their non-human residents.
ReplyDeleteCooper uses context to grab the readers attention. His detailed description of spring, and the changes that accompany it, is used in order to introduce the characters and community. This may give the reader a sense of the community's attitudes towards animals and the environment. Cooper describes this particular spring in the first two paragraphs and then introduces the characters. This allows his audience to easily incorporate these characters into the familiar context of the environment. These tactics are what make Cooper's piece unique and allow it to stand by itself.
ReplyDeleteCooper is able to weave in intricate short story within his book which is how “The Slaughter of Pigeons” can stand alone. He opens with a introductory paragraph that paints the beautiful and peaceful picture of the valley. As Cooper introduces the first characters, Elizabeth and Richard, it is apparent that you are coming in at the middle of a story, not the beginning. The story quickly remedies this by showing us that this characters are nothing more than what is familiar to us. By the time Leather-Stockings comes in we have already been caught up with the excitement and insanity of their sport. As we see the hero, Leather-Stockings, lecture Mr. Jones we are struck with the horror and stupidity of the “sport”. As the story ends we are left with a chance to think about the actions and choices of the characters within the story. It was also very important that the end has, well, an ending. This is something that most chapters tend to lean against, but creates a story within the larger story in this particular book.
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