This weeks reading.

I was really kinda confused when I first read this. I thought that the background to Aphra Behn was really helpful. She paved the way for women to speak their opinion, be authors, etc. She not only produced many types of works, but she was also a spy. How cool is that? Oroonoko is a very interesting piece of work. I'm not usually interested in reading stuff like this, I don't like reading about the slave trade whether it's fiction or non fiction. I think it is important to learn, but I think its just one of the horrible things America has participated in and I don't like it. However, I do think Oroonoko is well written. The way Behn portrays the story, it is like she is actually there. Like this actually happened to her...I guess that is why this story is a travel narrative.

The story opens up with the narrator explaining how well the colonists and the Native Americans get along. Well, maybe she feels that way, but history shows us otherwise. The colonists say they cannot enslave the Native Americans because they vastly outnumber the colonists, they must go somewhere else for slaves. Africa.

Lets skip over a lot. I love the description the narrator gives Oroonoko. She describes his shoulder length hair, beautiful white teeth and how white the whites of his eyes are, his body shape, tall, his beautiful ebony skin. How many slave owners do you know describe their slaves this way??? The beginning of Oroonoko's story was beautiful and then his wife, Imoinda, marries his grandfather. And then I remembered who was telling this story and that he is fated to be a slave, a horrible thing. I know we aren't supposed to finish this story until the end of this week, but not only did I read this story, I looked it up as well. Does anyone know what happens to him? He is sold into slavery by being tricked, whipped with pepper thrown into his wounds, ends up killing his beloved wife because he knows that they will never be free and returned to Africa, and he is also killed, but by being cut into pieces. This is freaking horrible. I hate it. And at the beginning on 2179 it is said that the narrator has no control over this situation and can only write about it? This is why I don't like stories like this. It states, "compassion for the royal slave and outrage at his fate were enlisted in the long battle against the slave trade." Oh, so now he gets compassion? Where was the compassion when he was stolen from his country? Or how about the thousands of others that were stolen from their countries? Tricked into slavery? Beaten? raped? Chopped and torn apart to death? Stuff like this makes me sick.

The Eyes Are The Window To The Soul

Trying to keep up with how Behn writes is hard work for my eyes because of the small print and large paragraphs. Yet, it is easier to understand compared to Paradise Lost, which had my brain doing circles and criss-cross patterns every time. From what I’ve read so far, it is a very interesting story, but I find that I’m not drawn into it like I was with previous things we’ve read. I don’t know if it’s a combination of her writing style and characters, but I feel it lacks something.

I’m probably the only one who thinks so, but I can rock the lone wolf deal. Yet, there are certain excerpts that I find rather curious. The first was Behn’s description of the Prince on page 2187. He seems to be a well-raised, educated and intelligent young man from the description. His physical appearance is flawless and striking against the rest of his people. He is full of vitality and an inspiration for the men around him.

When it says, “His eyes were the most awful that could be seen, and very piercing, the white of ‘em being like snow, as were his teeth” (2187) I was stopped by the word awful. How can someone’s eyes be awful? It is an unusual description for humans eyes because most writers use adjectives like beautiful, mesmerizing, otherworldly, never awful.

If I could guess, I think she describes his eyes this way because of their experiences, knowledge and ability to see through you. Nothing could be hidden from the Prince because he saw and understood everything going on around him. He spoke English and Spanish so he could communicate with the white people besides his own kind. Since he started young as a fighter, the things he experienced and saw probably shaped him on the inside and sometimes shine through his eyes.

It can intimidating to look at someone who you know has more knowledge and skill than you. You fear their criticism and judgment because you are just trying to get through the day. The people in his town or village may have seen him in this light, besides respecting and looking up to him. The Prince certainly sounds like a fearsome thing to behold. With his strong personality and impeccable character, he is a man’s man. Just his description intimidates me a bit. He seems to be very accomplished at a young age and knows who he is. 

Oroonoko

Aphra Behn does some really...interesting things with her story. I do like her storytelling, she gives out a lot of really helpful information but I'm rather partial to stories that have more dialogue. Not sure if that's going to pickup in the second half but right now it seems like it's a lot of block text. Which has been working, but it is getting a little boring. 

          I really did enjoy the part about the Native Americans who though the English Governor was dead because he didn't show up when he said he would. There total willingness to call him a liar was also pretty cool. I just really like the idea of a group of people who don't expect everyone to lie all the time. It might be naive but it's also great to see, especially now when our society is built almost entirely on lies. Honestly, what's the point of lies? I'd be really interested in seeing our society try to function without lying. Of course then would come the inevitable collapse of the government and banks and every other piece of infrastructure. 

          I don't really like how she explains how beautiful Oroonoko and Imoinda are and then goes and says it's because they have all these white features. If it weren't for Oroonoko's black skin he would be one of the most beautiful men around. But not only is he black, he's really really black. Like coal. So while she goes on about how attractive he is to all people she keeps throwing in the caveat that 'oh he's not actually that hot because he's black'. It's rude and really racist. Although I feel that's to be expected in this time frame. Imoinda is even so beautiful that 40+ white men have been caught staring at her. As if the fact that white men even find her attractive makes her stand out so much. Half of Aphra Behn's love of Oroonoko comes from the fact that she loves how educated and cultured he is. He speaks English and French and all that jazz but those are all markers of European civilization. Who cares? He's a pretty awesome guy for other reasons. He's a renowned soldier and leader, unbelievably loyal, and a good friend. And any guy who doesn't kill the man who literally steals his wife the day(ish) before the wedding (grandfather or no) gets points in my book. I know he's going to do some stuff that I can't really support in the next half of the story but for now Oroonoko seems like a pretty cool guy. 

Devils, Satan, Adam and Eve, and the Human Condition

In the past few books that we have read they have discussed devils, Satan, and the human condition. In Oroonoko, the author, Aphra Behn discusses the innocence of Adam and Eve tying this novella to some of the other pieces of literature that we have read this year. In Paradise Lost, Satan discusses his point of view. Satan plans to corrupt God's newest creation. In Oroonoko, the narrator discusses Adam and Eve and compares the innocence to that of the narrator prior to when they began to sin. I think that the religious references between the literature that we have read kind of builds off of one another. I know that this is a really short post but my next post will be longer.