The rugged frontiersman, the wealthy self-made entrepreneur, the stoic lone wolf; these are classic archetypes, embodiments of an enduring myth: American masculinity. The doctrine of ideal manhood and its many incarnations have occupied a central place in American literature since colonial times. These representations still exist in countless cultural iterations. The literary periods studied in this course witnessed writers who continually constructed and deconstructed the myths of paternal heroism and ideal masculinity. From Romanticism to Modernism, authors such as James Fennimore Cooper and F. Scott Fitzgerald helped create the tradition of American manhood by investigating cultural notions of gender and self that were emblematic of their time. Romance author James Fennimore Cooper created characters in the tradition of independence and self-control. Aside from the “Leather Stockings” series, “The Last of The Mohicans,” uses the American frontier as an aesthetic articulation of male identity. (“Masculine Heroes” American Passages Voices and Visions) In an excerpt from Cooper’s classic, “From Volume I Chapter III,” (Cooper. 485-491) the reader is introduced to the recurring character Natty Bumppo – referred to as Hawkeye – and his friend Chingachgook. Both men can be seen as representations of the American frontier, heroes who embody the mythical elements in Cooper's setting. They are rugged frontiersmen who thrive self-sufficiently, in a world of harsh realities. Hawkeye is a man who lives on the border between wilderness and civilization, between Native American and European culture (“Masculine Heroes” American Passages Voices and Visions). man who lived on the border between wilderness and civilization,... at the center of the paper... his own relationships, and described his seemingly conflicted attitude towards the arrogant masculinity of his time. In "Winter Dreams", Dexter Greene attempts to show the quality that his generation associates with manly willpower, self-sufficiency, and well-being, but he fails, because he does not show dominance in his relationship with Judy. He allows his willpower and judgment to be clouded but emotional desire. Thus, Dexter represents Fitzgerald's reconceptualization of male identity, an identity made more emotionally realistic by balancing what were historically considered feminine traits with conventional masculine attributes. Showing the ways in which these exceptions are illusions. (“Modernist Portraits” American Passages Voices and Visions.) The time spanning the Romanesque and Modernist eras witnessed the evolution of the myth of American manhood.