The Narrator Of Oroonoko Pro Slavery Or Anti Slavery

The Narrator of Oroonoko: Pro-Slavery or Anti-Slavery Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko: the Royal Slave is portrayed and written as a personal account of the life of Oroonoko. Oroonoko’s life story is told according the narrator’s eye-witnessed account or by Oroonoko’s own testimony to the narrator, â€Å"I was myself an eyewitness to the great part of what you will find here set down, and what I should not be witness of, I receive from the mouth of the chief actor in this history, the hero himself, who gave us the whole transactions of his youth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (2313). The novel reads as if it were a journal and its’ setting reflects the present day seventeenth century colonial times in which it was written. In her work Oroonoko, Behn brilliantly addresses the evils of slavery through the use of a narrator who is both pro and anti-slavery on different levels leaving the seventeenth century audience to challenge their own beliefs about slavery. The narrator’s position in society would have made her very a ccustomed to the institution of slavery. She is a middle class British woman: her late-father died at sea and was the lieutenant general (2341). She was a member of the middle- to upper class of society and a settler in the colony of Surinam. The narrator knew the importance and value of having slaves to work in the large plantations built by the colonist. In describing the relationship the colonist had with the natives of the land in Surinam, she gives an insight how she easily accepted slavery,Show MoreRelatedRacism and Slavery in Oronooko1158 Words   |  5 Pagesinterpreted and read the wrong way. The novella, Oroonoko written by Aphra Behn, is a great example of this. Oroonoko is the story of the Royal Slave. It is written in the perspective of a white colonial woman in the eighteenth century. I found the novella to have a lot of subtle racial undertones despite the fact that during that time it was seen as an anti-slavery novel.(1) There have been debates on whether this nove lla is pro-slavery or anti-slavery? While reading, I decided that it was neitherRead MoreOroonoko, By Aphra Behn1598 Words   |  7 Pages Oroonoko is a novel by author Aphra Behn, in which Behn tried to illustrate the life of the African Prince, who was captured and made slave, Oroonoko. Behn offers criticism for the cruelest of Europeans, while still holding a bias against people of color. She ignores self-identity while focusing on the exotic other that fills the pages of her book. Though she tries to make the African character relatable, she maintains her sense of European superiority. She also portrays a somewhat accurate depiction