Negatives of Frontierism

Negatives of Frontierism Three writers, in their own times, had written stories and touched on the negatives of frontierism. Cooper, Irving, and Twain, have all touched on the repercussions of the expansion westward, ranging from racism to the destruction of entire peoples and the environment. In The Deerslayer, Cooper expresses the racism toward the Indian people through a white settler who killed an Indian, “…’Twould ill become me to take a wife, under red-skin forms, …

…life!” Twain shows how the rapid expansion westward can make people feel jaded and would do things with complete apathy. The expansion westward in the U.S. had many negative outcomes. Cooper, Irving, and Twain had written about the negative aspects of frontierism at different point in time. These negative attitudes are all too real and continue to plague our world, such as the destruction of our environment and our exploitation of peoples and things.