Oroonoko Sparknotes

1034 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Compare and contrast civilization and savagery

The end of the 17th century marked the beginning of a new age known as the Enlightenment. During this time many remarkable philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Spinoza emerged. They handled very many difficult topics and discussed the world around them. They doubted ideas that had been thought of as absolutes for centuries and began to think in new and inventive ways. While this was going on, Europeans were conquering the Americas. Explorers had to deal with the moral dilemma of how they would handle the people they came across. Aphra Behn dealt with this issue of colonialism by writing the book Oroonoko, a tale about a noble African man. Behn, in this book, contrasts the civilized Europeans with Africans, whom the Europeans deemed savage. …show more content…

They view him as uncivilized. They don’t have very much respect for him at all and because of this are willing to harm him for their own benefit, especially the captain. Oroonoko goes into detail about the captain, describing how, “To this captain he sold abundance of his slaves; and for the favour and esteem he had for him, made him many presents” (60). He is obviously on good terms with this man and has done business with him before, so he has built a trust up for him. This trust ends up backfiring when the captain lies to him. He falls for the captain’s initial trap and as a result becomes held captive. The captain continues to lie to him as the story progresses just so that he can get his way. By doing this, he is taking advantage of Oroonoko’s innocence. Oroonoko is a nobleman with honor. He would never betray the trust of one close to him and as a result is surprised when it happens to himself.
Once he arrives in Surinam, Oroonoko is made a slave. He is put to work, but is eventually promised freedom. However, while the promises keep coming, he is never actually freed. He is simply led on by these people to a point where he rebels. After being caught for his rebellion, Oroonoko is punished severely. He is lashed and sentenced to death by quartering, a punishment most likely reserved for savages like Oroonoko rather than

Show More
Related

  • Critical Analysis Of Gene Edward Veith's Reading Between The Lines

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    I must state at this point that much of this book’s content disturbed me, and I experienced great relief at its conclusion. Specifically, his pessimistic views on the Enlightenment,

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Basil Davidson's 'Different But Equal'

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first segment of his film series, Different but Equal, Basil Davidson sets out to disprove the fictitious and degrading assumptions about African civilization made by various Western scholars and explorers. Whether it is the notion that Africans are “savage and crude in nature” or the presumed inability of Africans to advance technologically, these stereotypes are damaging to the image and history of Africa. Although European Renaissance art depicts the races of white and black in equal dignity, there was a drastic shift of European attitudes toward Africa that placed Africans in a much lower standing than people of any other culture. The continent of Africa quickly became ravished by the inhuman slave trade and any traditional civilization

    Read More

  • Scramble For Africa Dbq Essay

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    In many accounts of the Africans, the Africans were in disagreement with the European's Scramble for Africa. Ndansi Kumalo an African veteran wrote in 1896 if many of them to give or keep their land. In a distrustful and agony tone he spoke of how the poor treatment of the Africans in the Ndebele rebellion against the British advances in South America to convince many others not to stay because it has impacted many Africans and many died in the process of it. He says “So we surrendered to the White people and were told to go back to our homes and live our usual lives and attend to our crops. They came and were overbearing. We were ordered to carry their clothes and bundles (Doc.4).” A German military officer in 1896 wrote in a newspaper article about the reactions of the Africans about the white settlers. In an awed tone he wrote about the 1906 account of the Maji Maji Rebellion in German East Africa and to give an example of how the Africans believed in a magic medicine would help them defend themselves against the white settlers (Doc.8). Mojimba an African chief in 1907 described a battle in 1877 on the Congo River against British and African mercenaries to a German catholic missionary. In an appalled and hateful tone he used this description to show that these whi...

    Read More

  • Oppression of Imperialism in Poisonwood Bible and Heart of Darkness

    1448 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ion of imperialism has evolved. In both Heart of Darkness by Conrad, and The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver, Africa is invaded and altered to conform to the desires of more “civilized” people. While this oppression in the Congo never seems to cease, the natives are consistently able to overcome the obstacles, and the tyrants, and thus prove to be civilized in their own regard and as capable of development as the white nations. As Orleanna says herself: “Call it oppression, complicity, stupefaction, call it what you’d like…Africa swallowed the conqueror’s music and sang a new song of her own” (Kingsolver 385). Kingsolver illustrates that though individuals may always seek to control and alter the region, the inhabitants and victims of the tyranny and oppression live on and continue past it, making the state of the area almost as perpetual as the desire to control it.

    Read More

  • Social Isolation In The Interesting Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah Equiano

    1282 Words  | 3 Pages

    Olaudah Equiano in his Interesting Narrative is taken from his African home and thrown into a Western world completely foreign to him. Equiano is a slave for a total of ten years and endeavors to take on certain traits and customs of Western thinking. He takes great pains to improve himself, learn religion, and adopt Western mercantilism. However, Equiano holds on to a great deal of his African heritage. Throughout the narrative, the author keeps his African innocence and purity of intent; two qualities he finds sorely lacking in the Europeans. This compromise leaves him in a volatile middle ground between his adapted West and his native Africa. Olaudah Equiano takes on Western ideals while keeping several of his African values; this makes him a man associated with two cultures but a member of neither.

    Read More

  • Racial Struggles Throughout the History of American Society

    2018 Words  | 5 Pages

    The beginnings of colonialism, allowed Europeans to travel the world and meet different kinds of people. Their first encounter with the New World and these new peoples, created the opening ideas of inequality. These new people were called indigenous people and alien like. Europeans began to question if these people were really human and had the same intellectual capacity as Europeans did. “Alternative ideas about the origins and identities of indigenous peoples also began to appear early in the 16th century...

    Read More

  • Exterminate All the Brutes by Sven Lindqvist

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    After a journey into the dark history of Europe and Africa with Sven Lindqvist, I found myself shocked. It’s earth shattering. Ideas and historical events are presented through a journal/proposal of his unique view on racism. Lindqvist raises questions as to where racism was spurred and why what happened in late 1800’s and early 1900’s lead to the holocaust. Including religion, personal human values, advanced warfare and even societies’ impact as a whole. His travels through the Sahara and Africa in the early chapters show a more current day view of society over seas. The description of the desolate continent and harsh conditions paints a picture of what previous civilization lived through. He explains that part of the reason he has traveled to the desert is to feel the space all around him, a definite emptiness if you will. As his travels progress he introduces his own family life that pertains to the human emotion, which is also a big focus point in this book. Childhood beatings over taking the lord’s name in vain, dropped calls from his daughter that leave him torn and sad. He does an excellent job on taking the reader on a personal journey with him through his current day traveling and even his early life. Linking these personal experiences and tying in histories misconceptions of “right and wrong” is what makes this book so valuable. Lindqvist gives a relevant and educated answer to the question of how racism became such a terrible tribulation in all parts of the world.

    Read More

  • The Views of Native Americans and Europeans

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Europeans started to come over to the new world, they discovered a society of Indians that was strikingly different to their own. To understand how different, one must first compare and contrast some of the very important differences between them, such as how the Europeans considered the Indians to be extremely primitive and basic, while, considering themselves civilized. The Europeans considered that they were model societies, and they thought that the Indians society and culture should be changed to be very similar to their own.

    Read More

  • The French Revolution and Independence in Venezuela

    1801 Words  | 4 Pages

    Niles, Patricia. “The Enlightenment.” Novaonline. Niles and C.T. Evans, 7 May 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .

    Read More

  • Domination to Reciprocity: The Evolution of Popular Culture

    1404 Words  | 3 Pages

    The imposition of European culture on Natives during the colonization of the New World entailed not only the desire to dominate/convert supposedly inferior Natives but also an accompanying fascination with their contradictory way of life. Europeans saw Native culture as uncivilized and comparable to a primitive state of European existence. Despite this view, Herder’s account in Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind reflects a Romantic European fascination with the natural and simplistic facets of Native culture. According to Herder, nature has favored Natives by providing them with “no idle fast of pleasing poisons, [nature] has p...

    Read More

  • Cultural Differences In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    He was in great conflict with the ideas of the white men and the missionaries. Okonkwo saw that their beliefs had not only changed the daily life of the Ibo, but it also changed the people themselves: “He mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women” (Achebe 183). The author uses strong diction to compare the men before and after colonization. This quote also portrays Okonkwo’s opinion towards the cultural collision. He values strength and masculinity immensely because of his fear of appearing weak like his father Unoka. When he describes that the men of Umuofia changed to be soft like women, this shows how much he dishonors the Western ideas and how it has taken over the village. He made an attempt to get rid of the Western influence by urging the tribe to fight like men, but they refuse to. He was determined and still attempted to furthermore encourage the people of Umuofia to revolt against the new culture. He realizes that his attempts to return the village back to the way it was before were futile. He knew that Christianity was tearing his people apart, but knew he was incapable of making change to help his people. Okonkwo then starts to feel hopeless and abandoned by his clan, which causes him to commit suicide by hanging himself: “Obierika… turned suddenly to the District Commissioner and said ferociously: ‘That man was one of the greatest men

    Read More

  • Colonialims and the Use of Narrative in Stories Helped Fight Colonialism

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... Mr. Cary, whom wrote offensive novels about Nigeria and other parts of Africa. As previously explained, the extent to which stories can fight colonialism is based on humanity, whether the people support the story or downright despise of it, they draw attention to it by expressing their feelings and opinions.

    Read More

  • Middle Passage

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    European slavers altered the way that different African people viewed one another and themselves. The book by Miguel Barnet, Biography of a Runaway Slave is a strong account that can be used to explore how Africans changed their perception of each other, and how this change influenced the lives of Africans in the Americas.

    Read More

  • The Psychological Impact of Colonialism on the Victimization of Africans

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    While Collins does a succinct job of examining the economic and political factors that heightened colonization, he fails to hone in on the mental warfare that was an essential tool in creating African division and ultimately European conquest. Not only was the systematic dehumanization tactics crippling for the African society, but also, the system of racial hierarchy created the division essential for European success. The spillover effects of colonialism imparted detrimental affects on the African psyche, ultimately causing many, like Shanu, to, “become victims to the white man’s greed.”

    Read More

  • Colonial and Post-Colonial Mentalities in the Middle Passage

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most baffling aspects of European interest in African people is the civilizations collective distaste of and fascination with people of African descent. The initial journey into Africa, and the planning that preceded it, spawned many of the most enlightening theories about African people. These theories, usually in support of African savagery and inferiority and in favor of European superiority and civility were based in the colonial mentalities of that time. Of the most notable theories is the idea that African religious system was pagan and that African people were inferior because of their darker skin pigmentation and “beast-like” nature. These theories dispersed rapidly across the globe, and even today people of African-descent collectively, however subconsciously, grow into them. Moving forward, how are these theories presented in post-modern works of literature? Equally so, how do authors weave the colonial and post-colonial mentalities into the framework of certain texts. Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage advances both colonial mentalities as well as post-colonial perspectives. The novel sheds light on traditional European colonial notions African savagery, the inferiority of African people as sub-human and commodities, and—at the same instant—presents the post-colonial perspective of the archetypical American Negro serving as a “middle man” between Europeans and Africans.

    Read More

More about Oroonoko Sparknotes

Open Document