What's wrong with these people?

Oroonoko really got to me.  I was actually mad after the ending, which in my opinion means that at least the author succeeded in her goal of making people care about this issue.  But reading a story so heavily saturated with slavery made me think of a quote by one of my favorite authors, Terry Pratchett.  He speaks through the character of Granny Weatherwax, saying, "A sin, young man, is when you treat people as things.  Including yourself.  That's what sin is" (Carpe Jugulum).  And that's exactly what happens over and over again in this story.

First off, I don't think I have to tell anyone that slavery is the most literal example of treating people as things.  Slavery takes a human being and makes him a salable commodity, preempting his free will and self-determination.  But it's far from the only example of this definition of sin.  Oroonoko's grandfather treats Imoinda as a thing, there for his pleasure alone, and when he decides to punish her, he sells her to slavers with barely a second thought.  His actions also show how little he regards his own grandson when he steals away his betrothed, the woman he loves alone and who loves him in return.

Again and again in this book, white men are proven to be faithless liars.  These men treat everyone around them as things, justifying their manipulation and deceit by telling themselves they're just slaves, or just natives, or just subjects, not worthy of respect or consideration.  In fact, these men are even lying to themselves, not respecting themselves enough to maintain their honor.  The worst thing, in my opinion, is that they leave honest people looking like liars if they trust their words.  For someone in a position of power, such as a deputy governor, such behavior is despicable  and an atrocious example to set for his subjects.

I also get the sense that the colonists view the natives from the same dehumanizing perspective.  The author says that they don't dare take the natives as slaves because they are so numerous.  This implies to me that if they could get away with it, they would just enslave the natives; after all, they're just godless heathens, right?  I think this is the exact reason the author makes such a big deal of the innocence and morality of the natives compared to the whites.  In fact, the disparity between the religious tenets of these liars and their actions makes me think they see God as just another thing, something to use to calm the masses but which means nothing to them.

So what do you all think?  Did Terry Pratchett get it right, or is there more to the story?

3 out of 5

Gruesome Ending to a Tragic Tale

    It was hard for me to read the ending of Oroonoko. Being from the twenty-first century, it is hard for me to imagine people enslaving other human beings and treating them so poorly. It moved me emotionally and made me cringe while I was reading that, but because of that stirring of emotions, I could not seem to stop reading. I wonder if this was Behn's point all along. She wanted people to realize that slavery was going on in the world, and it was affecting families and even royalty of other cultures in a very real way.
     Knowing some about slavery and what all it entailed, I was not as shocked at the cruelty as I believe someone during Behn's time would be. Sure, there were prisoners of war and public executions, but slavery was not the norm. The way that Oroonoko was killed was worse than how animals were killed for food. To wrap ones mind around it is unthinkable, and I cannot imagine the other ways in which slaves were killed.
    To Behn's original audience and to readers today, the reality of slavery is revealed in a gruesome and emotionally stirring way. Behn makes one think about slavery in a way that slave owners would never wish people to know. Her bluntness and the way she elevates Oroonoko at the beginning, stirs empathy within the reader as Oroonoko comes to a tragic end.



Blog challenge: 4 of 5!