Her closest friends include Oroonoko and Imoinda, who often dine at her table. She describes her health as poor, and is very sensitive to all kinds of odors. The narrator admires the foods and customs of the ethnic groups she comes into contact with, and in general she has a keen sense of adventure. Inspired by Aphra Behns (the author) visit to Surinam, Oroonoko reflects the authors romantic views of native peoples as being in the first state of. While the narrator abhors how Oroonoko is treated, she never admits that she has a problem with the institution of slavery itself-the main injustice she decries is that a natural king like Oroonoko should be treated so disrespectfully. While she highly esteems Oroonoko, there is a sense that he is the exception, not the rule, when it comes to African. She sees these “natives” as close descendants of Adam and Eve before the Fall of Man, but her opinions toward black Africans seems to be a bit murkier. For the most part, the narrator is open-minded (for her time) and not entirely bigoted in her opinions of the native peoples of the European colonies. Almost the whole of Oroonoko is told in the narrator’s voice and from her perspective. He stays by Oroonoko’s side after Oroonoko is captured and sold into slavery. Though he is not very religious, the Frenchman is nevertheless very moral. The narrator is a female Englishwoman, and possibly the direct voice of the author, Aphra Behn, who lived in Suriname for a while and may have had similar experiences to the narrator. Exiled from France for his heretical opinions, the Frenchman becomes Oroonoko ’s tutor and teaches him morality, languages, and science.
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