The Wilderness
The novel opens with a poetic description of the sublimity of vast expanses of the untamed natural world. Juxtaposed against this image of nature making its own way is the introduction of the human characters whose story will become the focus of the narrative. The symbolism is clear enough: nature is the essence of purity while mankind is the introduction of a pestilential influence on that purity as a result distinctly human attributes like greed, envy, hatred and the urge to conduct war.
Chingachgook
Unlike in other books in the series, Natty Bumppo’s loyal Native American companion does not play much of an active role in the events playing out. His service in this installment is primarily symbolic: the embodiment of the Noble Savage stereotype.
Mabel Dunham
Mabel Dunham is the closest that Natty ever gets to falling in love, marrying and settling down. That he does not is what informs the symbolic status of Mabel. She represents domesticity and the taming of wild instincts which would inhibit Bumppo from living a life which is natural as well as, symbolically, inhibiting expansion of American idealism westward.
The Pathfinder
The failure to allow Natty to live and love with a happily ever after future is necessary not just for the purpose of maintaining the continuity of a series of novel written out of chronological order, but symbolically as well. Natty is throughout the Leatherstocking Tales presented as a symbol of America. His adventures in this particular entry are about pushing the growth and expansion America westward deeper into the wilderness, but without, it is hoped, corrupting the frontier and poisoning it with the worst of humanity.
The French
The French (in battle with British forces during the French and Indian War) symbolize those worst aspects of humanity. Although villains are found on all sides, it is the French that initiates this villainous behavior. And at the center of this villainy is greed, the driving force behind all the actions which call for interference and assistance from Natty and Chingachkook.
