Adapted from James Fennimore Cooper’s novel, The Last of the Mohicans (1826). Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow.
1 His eyes fell on the still, upright, and rigid form of the “Indian runner,” who
2 had borne to the camp the unwelcome tidings of the preceding evening. Although
3 in a state of perfect repose, and apparently disregarding, with characteristic
4 stoicism, the excitement and bustle around him, there was a sullen fierceness
5 mingled with the quiet of the savage that was likely to arrest the attention of
6 much more experienced eyes than those which now scanned him in unconcealed
7 amazement. The native bore both the tomahawk and knife of his tribe; and yet,
8 his appearance was not altogether that of a warrior. On the contrary, there was
9 an air of neglect about his person, like that which might have proceeded from
10 great and recent exertion, which he had not yet found leisure to repair. The
11 colors of the war paint had blended in dark confusion about his fierce
12 countenance, and rendered his swarthy lineaments still more savage and
13 repulsive than if art had attempted an effect which had been thus produced
14 by chance. His eye, alone, which glistened like a fiery star amid lowering clouds,
15 was to be seen in its state of native wildness. For a single instant, his searching
16 and yet wary glance met the wondering look of the other, and then changing its
17 direction, partly in cunning and partly in disdain, it remain fixed, as if
18 penetrating the air.
In the passage, darkness is symbolic of what (Lines 11–12)?
- Wildness and unrestraint (correct answer)
- Unbridled evil
- Volatile emotions
- The outdoors
Explanation: Darkness is equated with wildness. Consider the phrases “dark confusion about his fierce countenance (face)” and “his swarthy (tanned) lineaments still more savage.”