Dirty Harry
The opening paragraphs of the novel introduce a character nicknamed Hurry Harry as a companion of Natty Bumppo, the title character. In fact, it is Harry who is identified as the person who gave Bumppo the nickname “Deerslayer.” This friendship is profoundly ironic since it will be revealed that Harry is essentially one of the earliest white supremacists in American literary history whose view of the humanity of the native tribes is the polar opposite of that of Natty.
Mark Twain
Mark Twain infamously took the author to task in his essay “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses.” In that essay, The Deerslayer in particular comes under harsh criticism, partially as the result of an ironic disconnect. Twain points out that when a character “talks corrupt English six days in the week” it is only to be expected that he will speak this way on the seventh day as well. Instead, Cooper ironically has Natty Bumppo switching back and forth between barely literate expressions of English and poetic examples like “She's in the forest-hanging from the boughs of the trees, in a soft rain—in the dew on the open grass—the clouds that float about in the blue heavens—the birds that sing in the woods—the sweet springs where I slake my thirst—and in all the other glorious gifts that come from God's Providence!”
Father Bumppo
In addition to being the Pathfinder and the Deerslayer, Natty Bumppo also reveals himself as a kind of wise dispenser of advice on dealing with women in this novel. He hands out advice to his boon companion Chingachgook some sage advice on how to sustain a happy marriage. The irony here is that Bumppo spends a good deal of the Leatherstocking Tales running away from love. He is as well equipped to hand out advice on marriage as a Catholic Priest.
Raiders of the Ironic Ark
Hutter’s ark is endowed with Biblical symbolism as one would expect. That the ark is situated as a contemporary version of Noah’s ark situates Hutter as the patriarch guiding his family to salvation. Instead, the symbolism becomes tragically ironic as his monomania ends not so much with a rainbow as metaphor of the promise of God, but a horrifically literal death suggesting God was never on his side.
Romantic Irony
In addition to the irony of an man who has never had so much as a relationship with a woman handling out marriage advice, there is even greater romantic irony at play in this Leatherstocking Tale. Bumppo is a master of the wilderness with a keen eye for seeing everything and insight into the behavior of others. And yet he is absolutely clueless that Judith is becoming romantically attracted to him. Her feelings soar right over his head; were she an enemy in the wilderness, this would have been the story which sees the demise of Hawkeye.
