Oroonoko!

     This story comes from an interesting perspective, the perspective being from the last decedent of a royal line from the small African country called Coramantien. The story starts out with the back story of how Oroonoko grew up away from his royal family training to be a military leader by Imoinda's father who was later fatally shot in the eye with an arrow, which forces him to return home and become a general of the army. Oroonoko is portrayed almost as a Greek God built very strong and wealthy, powerful overall. This story also highlights the old kingcentric governing style where the king is able to just pick Imoinda to become one of his women and then also sell her into slavery. This is a twist on a classic love story with the addition of slavery as the king knowing Oroonoko and Imoinda are going to be together imminently sells her off to make sure Oroonoko cannot have her.

    Another theme seen throughout the piece which typically wasn't seen at this time is the tolerance towards the Natives but the poor treatment of the slaves. This is done because the Coramantien know they need the Natives as trade partners as they offer things they do not have. Meanwhile the slaves are just "useful" as slaves and do not need them for anything else therefore it allows the poor treatment to continue. All in all, the story of Oroonoko has many dynamic parts that can be seen but has one constant theme we've seen throughout the class and this is the slave trade and the poor treatment of slaves.

Comments

  1. Stephen GrayOctober 3, 2020 at 1:18 PM

    It is interesting how you portray Oroonoko as a Greek God. I understand what you mean by this but I very thought of that. It makes sense by the way that he grew up from a royal family, and trained to be a military leader. He is very strong, wealthy, and powerful when he is in charge. He almost seems invincible at the beginning of the story coming from a royal family with wealth and power. He is very strong and powerful which gives in the appearance of being like a Greek God.

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