I have a slightly embarasing confession: ever since I was a small child I have been fascinated with slavery. I had books about Harriett Tubman, possessed a number of African American dolls, and secretly wished I had been alive during the civil war so I could work with the underground railroad (this confession is probably completely un p.c). My fascination matured and grew less ovbious as I got older. Still, there is something about the whole business that still gets me.
I feel like Oroonoko manages to hit on a key issue slavery brings up. What is most important in life. Clearly, Oroonoko decides that slavery is so contrary to his concept of what it means to live it is better for him to die. This guy is no weakling, he has suffered a number of hardships throughout his life, physical and emotional. And yet, of all human crosses that are reasonable to bear in this life he draws the line at slavery. He concludes without freedom he has nothing. Why? In many ways Oroonoko has the good life even in slavery, hunting, fishing, the love of his life, a family...and yet, all this means little to Oroonoko without freedom. I don't know exactly why the issue of freedom is central to human existence but I think it has something to do with not belonging to yourself. I think the dismemberment of Oroonoko was symbolic, he no longer had control over his own life, his own body, his own choices. What then did he have control over? What significance did his life take as a result of losing his liberty? To Oroonoko, it seems nothing else ultimately matters if he doesn't have freedom. The only act of control he is able to perform is killing himself...or at least that was the plan until catatonic depression set in...
I guesse the issue of slavery fascinates me because I wonder whether or not I would be able to live in such extreme bondage and whether or not I would find that risking death ( whether it be by the underground railroad or quartering) worth the possibility of freedom. I think Behn proves that Oroonoko IS completely human by the fact that he cannot live in slavery because reasonably no human being should.
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The notion of control over one's body, especially in the context of slavery, is something we'll pick up again toward the end of the course--the way slavery makes you imagine your body as something you need to own. Your point about what is important in life also made me think about the moment where Oroonoko and Imoinda rediscover one another and are happy to live in their "little cottage" as slaves, but eventually this state becomes unbearable.
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