This story has me intrigued me. We have a somewhat unreliable narrator (and I call her unreliable because she's isn't every narrator?) and a hero who seems likable. He's intelligent and thoughtful. This story reminds me of Sir Thomas Moore's utopia like we said in class because the setting seems perfect and innocent of a corrupt, restrictive society. However, I'm not sure if I'm fond of how the natives were portrayed as innocent and ignorant of the world. Maybe it's just the narrator. I know she's doing the best she can but her voice is so condescending that it becomes annoying. Yet annoying as it might be I have to give her a little leeway. -My initial response to Oroonoko
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I agree with you. I have a hard time believing the narrator because of her views of the native Africans; however, it also goes back to what we were saying in class that we have to look at it as an audience from her time period. I also agree that this story intrigues me; for me, it is because there is not a set category that we can place this story in. I want to say it is a mixture between a historical and a slave narrative, but it is tough to say due to the unreliable narrator.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the narrator is unreliable. I understood her point of view being in a world very different from her own, but you're right, she does come off as very condescending and pompous. I like the comparison you've made between Utopia and the setting in Oroonoko as well.
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