Subtle Criticism in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko Essay

In their book A Patriot’s History of the United States, Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen seem to generally believe in the superiority of Europeans to the rest of the world. Schweikart and Allen go out of their way to note the superiority of European fighting patterns, the virtuous motivations of Christian explorers, the justification of genocide, and even the selflessness of the Founding Fathers. Though not completely inaccurate, the bias in favor of the colonists leaves many perspectives completely out of the picture.

narrator because we only know what she wants us to know, resulting in leaving out important facts. “I did write for a while in spite of them; but is does exhaust me a good deal---having to be so sly abut it, or else meet with heavy opposition.” (Gilman, p326) She is not honest about writing with her husband, and this proves that she is more than willing to tell her story her way.

In this essay I will discuss and analyze the social forces that influenced American women writers of the period of 1865 to 1912. I will describe the specific roles female authors played in this period and explain how the perspectives of female authors differed from their male contemporaries.

The Portrayal of the Plight of Women by the Author, In Their Particular Period of Time

Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different nature than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may represent his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays hers as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s.

Behn begins Oroonoko with a description of the native people: they have long black hair, wear jewelry and paint flowers on their

Introduction: John’s domination over the Narrator is evident from the beginning of the short story. The Narrator remains unknown and takes the identity of John’s wife not an individual human being. This identity, further explored, becomes her personality because she obeys John’s every command.

Woolf starts of by mentioning “Society concerned with the employment of women” (1). Woolf uses anaphora in the beginning of her speech. Using the phrase “it is true” (1) to emphasize that she is a women that is employed. In the time period Woolf wrote this speech was during the 1930’s, which is mostly associated with the Women’s Suffrage movement. This meant that women back were expected by society to fit into a specific role. Woolf’s self-employment as a writer did not fit into the role of women of the 1930’s. Woolf makes an understatement mentioning that “It is true I am a woman” (1). This understatement was made in order for the reader to comprehend the significance of Woolf being a female during the era of the 1930’s. Woolf not only includes herself to be a recognized female writer but enumerates names of recognized writers such as Fanny Burney to Jane Austen. Stating that these exclusive writes are responsible for “cutting the rode” (1) for the future female authors. To make her point valid, Woolf implements imagery of how her “scratching of a pen” (1) does not negatively impact the “family peace” nor the “family purse” (1). In addition with the specific phrase “the cheapness of writing paper is, of course, the reason women have succeeded as writers before they succeeded in other professions” (1). This specific phrase adds a sense of irony of how something considered cheap can prosper with a work of a woman.

When the readers meet the young, subordinated wife of a physician, who remains nameless throughout the entire story, perhaps hinting at the commonness of such situations where all those women are the same: faceless and nameless, this woman’s dilemma becomes obvious. She has been stripped off the only function a woman in those times had, the domestic one, due to the fact that she suffers from a mysterious illness which requires the infamous bed cure. Gradually, she is treated more and more as a child, unable and even forbidden to express herself in a creative way, namely to write, being persuaded that it cannot do any good to someone in her condition. This is why the protagonist (who is simultaneously the narrator), takes it upon herself to write a journal about her experiences and the mysterious woman that haunts her from the

Woolf demonstrates how women writers have often failed in this because of our frustration and bitterness with a world that presented to us and our writing not welcome, or even indifference, but hostility (41). She makes it clear that if there is ever going to be a “Shakespeare’s sister,” we must---at least while we are writing---swallow that sense of having been wronged, for it stands as an impediment to our creativity. This is the mental freedom that women writers must attain.

The author of “Telling Tails” elaborates on how a good story should be by saying “…, a well-imagined story is organized around extraordinary human behavior and unexpected and startling events, which help illuminate the commonplace and the ordinary” (O’Brien). If a story does not afford the reader the luxury to imagine these extraordinary events in our lives, the reader can be easily bored and lose interest in wanting to know more. An example of a well-imagined story that captivates its reader can be deduced from “Boys and Girls.” In this story, the father introduces his female child as a hired man to a salesman who says, “Could of fooled me…I thought it was only a girl” (Kelly 305). The statement being used can tell the reader how a female was thought of as an unimportant person. The author does not mention the obvious but leaves the readers to the device of their imagination. O’Brien would deem this story as a good one as the author is successful in telling a well-imagined and organized story about extraordinary human event and the place women had in society.

Aphra Behn’s novel, Oroonoko, gives a very different perspective on a slave narrative. Her characters embody various characteristics not usually given to those genders and races. Imoinda’s character represents both the modern feminist, as well as the subservient and mental characteristics of the typical eighteenth-century English woman. Oroonoko becomes an embodiment of what is normally a white man’s characteristic; he is the noble, princely, and sympathetic character that is not usually attributed to black men in general throughout most novels of slavery. The complete opposite character style is given to the slavers; the English are viewed as the barbaric, cunning, brutal characters that are usually portrayed in opposite and more generous

During that day and age, it was not common for a woman to write or publish books. For this reason, and many others that involved the particular context of the book, and the storyline, this book was very controversial. Many people said it advocated women's rights, and pushed for their independence as writers and as workers in other fields besides teaching. Others believe that this

Slave trade had a big impact on women and population as birth rates decreased immensely. Death rates also started to increase because of the crucial environment and the constant work that was expected out of the many men and women (214). There is controversy over whether the environment slaves were kept in were the reason for the many deaths and abortions, or if it was because women did not want to have their children raised as slaves (214). In the novel, Oroonoko made the decision to physically destruct the bodies of his wife and future child because of the conditions he did not want them living under. After killing his wife, he mirrored the injuries he had given to her. Oroonoko cut out his stomach to represent the abortion of his child, “he writes on his own body to signify the power over a woman instead of slavery” (220).

The theme of female struggle against male dominancy is presented throughout the novel and the narrator,