Cooper's technique is the use of repetition, oppositions, and contrasts, the elements of each being quite clear and identifiable. Repetition is seen most obviously in the plot device of the trap and escape of the sympathetic party of characters, but it is also used effectively to drive home the plight of the Indians and the historical events that have brought them to their present condition. Some repetition is incremental — that is, it restates but with a difference, with something new added. This is true of Indian and rifle lore, of the miscegenation theme, of motifs like the father-child one and that of disguise. At its best, the redundancy furnishes emphasis to something that Cooper feels is important; at its weakest, it amplifies material (folklore, for instance) in which Cooper is interested or feels that his reader will be interested.
Oppositions abound and afford numerous frontier clashes: French against English, Indians against Indians and against whites, Magua against Hawkeye's party. In one instance of the father-child motif, the Huron father, in admitting and accepting his son's differences that are negative to the tribal code of conduct, finds himself honor bound to oppose and kill the young, unprotesting warrior. At times opposition takes the form of debate such as Hawkeye's arguing religion with Gamut or procedure with Chingachgook and Uncas. The major and controlling opposition in the novel, of course, is that between evil and good.
The most looming contrast in the novel is that between the condition of nature and the condition of humans. Cooper is so effective with this that his following violent and bloody scenes with calm interludes of the natural world reasserting itself becomes a kind of ironic rhythm. In the realm of the characters are contrasts of cruelty with nobility, of hate with love. The Munro sisters make a blonde-brunette contrast from without, while within Hawkeye rest contrasts between his inherent isolation and his sporadic involvements with others and between his reverence for life and his ability and occasional delight in killing.
