Aphra Behn and Oroonoko Life Tribute

Aphra Behn and Oroonoko Life TributeAfrica is known for its people, beautiful scenery and slavery misconception. Slavery started a long time ago in ancient Egypt, around (1558-1080BC), where enslaved people were accrued as prisoners of war and from wrongdoers from various communities. Enslaved people were used for domestic labour such as household cleaners and supervised labour such as construction and plantation services.In 1600, the demand for cheap labour to work on plantation land grew tremendously in Europe, particularly in America. Demand for cheap labour led to far exploitation of the labourer by the European community, who found African labourers cheap and easy to accrue. Most labourers were accrued from the community in exchange for products such as clothes and alcohol; others were tricked and enticed into slavery, while others were accrued forcefully and migrated to European countries where they were sold as captives the European community. (Mitsein, 2018)Slavery hence became a profitable business which made the European community devastate many regions in Africa for enslaved people without care and caution of damage brought on family and community that lost one or two of their members to slavery exploits. We meet Oroonoko, a prince in Ghana, “Oroonoko has grown up away from the court and trained to be a great military leader by Imoinda’s father”. This paper aims to analyze Oroonoko as an enslaved person and Aphra Behn’s message towards her readers in Oroonoko’s book.
Aphra Behn and Oroonoko Life TributeOroonoko is a character in a book titled Oroonoko written by Aphra Behn, whose narration begins in a country known as Coramantien, which is present-day Ghana. Oroonoko is a prince in Ghana who falls in love with his mentor’s daughter, known as Imoinda, Oroonoko father develops feeling for Imoinda, accrues her and try to keep her from his son. Oroonoko learns of the father’s action and arranges a military force to retrieve Imoinda. (Gupta, 2020) The father sends a message to Oroonoko to stop the raid, the son submits to the call, but the father sells Imoinda into slavery since she is the leading cause of dispute between him and his son.Oroonoko learns about the father’s action toward Imoinda and becomes very angry, depressed and sad for an extended period. Eventually, he begins to recover from the loss of her beloved Imoinda after a batter in for territory in a neighbouring community, a few moons after he is tricked into slavery and sent to the European country. Oroonoko is purchased by Trefry, who takes him to work on his plantation; there, Oroonoko unites with his love Imoinda.A few years later, Imoinda becomes pregnant; Oroonoko sees this fear for his unborn baby into slavery and organizes and leads a slave revolt to try and escape to accrue freedom for his family and fellow slave members. Aphra Behn tries to put her reader into an enslaved person’s shoes, the suffering one endures in slavery, the mistreatment one accrues, and the typical life of an enslaved person. Aphra Behn Criticizes slavery and wants her readers to see enslaved people as actual people rather than commodities or tools used to improve their financial status and lifestyle (Beach,2012). Intensively Aphra Behn reveals the power of love on one life form and tries broadly show the effect it can bring to one of his readersReferenceBeach, A. B. (2012). Global Slavery, Old World Bondage and Aphra Behn’s ‘Abdelazer.The Eighteenth Century 53 (4), 413- 431.Gupta, R. (2020). Gender in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko: A Comparative Analysis of Representation in Oroonoko and Imoinda. School of English and Drama – Queen Mary University Of London.Mitsein, R. (2018). Trans-Saharan World and World View In Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko. Eighteenth-Century Fiction 30 (3), 339-368.