Comparison of Journal of the Plague Year and Oroonoko

Throughout history, slaves have been treated like animals and thought of as property, not human beings. Even Oroonoko, a handsome, statuesque prince is turned into a slave because of his race, and is degraded and mistreated. To racist slave owners, the horrible treatment of Africans was acceptable because they were a different species, and no amount of education or beauty could save them. Behn shows how unjust and brutal slavery is in Oroonoko. The treatment of slaves is comparable to the treatment of the poor, as both have few rights, and both are unjustly judged and mistreated based on social status.

Behn begins Oroonoko with a description of the native people: they have long black hair, wear jewelry and paint flowers on their faces, and "have all that is called Beauty, except the Colour, which is reddish Yellow." They possess the same features that Europeans do, but their skin tone is considered ugly. They also possess personality traits, like modesty and decency, which Behn considers positive. The native Courtship is desirable to Europeans, as they refrain from touching or making contact. They have "Native Justice, which knows no Fraud; and they understand no vice, or Cunning, but when they are taught by White Men."# In other words, the Natives are incredibly similar to Europeans, but are still viewed as lesser beings, and are sold into slavery and treated like lesser beings without remorse. Oroonoko, a prince, possesses all the good qualities that Europeans do: he is intelligent, bilingual, brave, tall, and has European facial features such as his "Roman" nose and white teeth. However, his tribe participates in the selling of slaves, and one day an English ship arrives full of people that take advantage of O...

... middle of paper ...

...ed, filthy cities with no transportation out of them. However, there was charity and sympathy for the poor, and Defoe even sympathizes with a thief that died while robbing a house.

Both the poor and the African slaves were abused for the profit of others. Both went through tremendous suffering, although from different causes. The poor did have more freedoms than the slaves did, but were forced to remain in their houses under quarantine, and were not allowed to escape the infested environment that would ultimately lead to their death. The Africans were not only stripped of their rights, but of their backgrounds as well; they were given European names and forced to forget their national history. Overall, the Africans faced harsher treatments than the poor Europeans did, and the long-term effects from slavery still affect many today, while the plague doesn't.