Oroonoko starts out with a disclaimer of sorts with the
writer explaining that she isn't going to pretend to entertain the reader “…with the
adventures of a feigned hero” and that most of what is said, she has witnessed
herself. I think the writer does this to lend more credibility to her story
although I’m not exactly sure why she needs it since it’s a work of fiction in
the first place. Also, I’m not sure whether the narrator is Behn herself or if
it’s a completely different person.
When Oroonoko meets Imoinda, it is love at first sight. They
decide to get married and are happily in love. That is until Oroonoko’s creepy King
Grandpa sets his eyes on her and turns her into one of his concubines. What
kind of grandpa does that to his own grandson? Then when Oroonoko sneaks in to
meet Imoinda, the King finds out and sells her into slavery! Whoever said that
with age comes wisdom was wrong because that clearly doesn’t apply to everyone.
Instead of just being a man and telling Oroonoko what he did, the King decides
to lie and say that he killed Imoinda. I feel so bad for Oroonoko, first he
meets the love of his life and then his grandpa steals her away and “kills”
her. He must have felt horrible that he couldn't do anything to stop the King from taking her away from him and that he couldn't protect her. It can’t get any worse for Oroonoko right? Wrong! Then he gets kidnapped
into slavery after being nothing but hospitable to this English captain. Poor
Oroonoko…
I think the author establishes that this is a true story that she witnessed herself in order to make the story seem more realistic and also to attempt to establish herself as a reliable narrator. And honestly, it wasn't super sad in the end because he ended up in the same position as his wife! I mean, he did end up killing her and their unborn child, but still...
ReplyDeleteKayla,
ReplyDeleteI would take it even further and say Oroonoko had a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad life! After all that you mentioned and then having to kill his wife and unborn child and being tortured and ultimately dying with no true identity whatsoever. I mean Behn continues to use his slave name, Ceasar, up until the end of the story. Ironic, considering the title of the work is his real name, and in the final paragraph the narrator expresses that she seeks to preserve "his glorious name," but then concludes with a Imoinda. This confused me a little about the narrator's intention and where/who exactly the reader's sympathy should be directed towards.
I love watching any movie with a love story. When I was younger, I even looked for movies and books with a love story. I often felt as though these loves stories captured or created an atmosphere or chemistry that created missing laughter or love. It was as if there was a great void in everyone’s life until this great love story. The last book I remember reading where I really enjoyed this feeling was Harry Potter. It was the last of the series and I wanted to know what it felt like to be incredibly popular and make bad choices when it comes to women. Harry Potter had this problem. He liked one girl and did not know why he really liked her other than he thought she was pretty. Well she did not like him. She was in love with an older man. Harry was upset and angry because of this. Harry had fallen in love with his best mate’s little sister who was just a kid and they often saw that relationship as a joke until she got older, then it was complicated
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