MovieChat Forums > The Last of the Mohicans (1992) Discussion > Why Alice jumped

Why Alice jumped

posted 17 years ago by rblisard
133 replies | jump to latest

Hi everyone,

Please help me settle a debate. My mother thinks Alice jumped off the cliff because she wanted to join the man she loved, Uncas, in death.

I think she's reading too much between the lines. I believe Alice jumped to escape being tortured and raped by Magua and his men. Magua even turns to her with a lascivious stare; then there's a shot of his knife shining in his hand, poised and ready to slice her open. Native Americans often raped white women and scalped them (white men did this to them after all).

What do you all think?

[–] Kuato_and_George 11 years ago

I think she just thought she had nothing left to live for. The guy she was sweet on had just died in front of her, her father was dead, she thought her sister was dead, and she didn't want to be a slave to Magua and his men; who were pretty horrible.

For my latest movie reviews and news:http://www.hesaidshesaidreviewsite.com/

[–] F_Gump 11 years ago

I always thought it was a literal reaction to the prospect of the old cliche "a fate worst than death". Did she jump in the novel? Your personal honor was more important than life in the 18th century (hence dueling). Read that way jumping would have been the rational choice.

abcdefg hijklm nopqrst uvwxyz

[–] g-of-warks2-1 11 years ago

Apologies if someone else has already made this point ( I have got to admit I have not read all of the posts). She did jump in the novel. James Fennimore Cooper intened it as something of a symbol. As someone pointed out earlier, she had some black ancestry (one of her grandmothers, I think, was black). So if she had have got it together with the Mohican bloke, then symbolically all three main ethnic groups (white, black and red) in North America would have got on with each other. The fact that they both died synbolised ethnic strife in the years to come.

[–] Dave_Robicheaux 11 years ago

She jumped to offer Magua the true face of the death from the will of a dead non-feared person. It's a vengeance for Uncas kill, in a kind of way.

And, thus work, Magua losts his fight vs Chinkachook, certainly destabilized by this suicide.

[–] karentielmans 11 years ago

It was to escape them.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] elefino-912-408457 10 years ago

Not to totally dispute what others have said about Alice's fear of life, or death, under Magua's thumb being a factor, but I don't think that's her overriding motivation for jumping.

You see, Alice had traveled with the group. She knows how tight they are. Nathaniel & Cora were close enough to see her jump, and Chingachgook was apparently even closer, most certainly having seen Uncas' death and arriving on the scene first (after Alice's death, of course). Alice had to know that they would be close behind in support of Uncas, even if she couldn't see any of them from her vantage point.

Therefore, I put much more credence in her step-off being a lover's leap, rather than fear of her own fate.

Pardon if I missed someone else pointing this out, but it's a very long thread.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gravelandx88 10 years ago

I think had she not jumped, she could of been saved moments later. But at the time, she wouldn't have known.