https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Eid3m80D0
9:00 – 11:40
This Novel brings to light the opposite of what Bartleby showed us. Bartleby showed us how to live a life without risk, without love, and without any amount of genuineness. And Oroonoko shows us the exact opposite. Oroonoko shows us how to truly have faith, and to truly love, a few times throughout the work, he is promised to be let free out of slavery numerous times and every time he believes them. He trusts captain of the ship when he is invited on as a guest, he trusts him again after their hunger strike, that they would not be sold, however, again he is betrayed, and it doesn’t seem like he has lost his faith in man even at this point. The only time we see him lose any faith at all is when Imoinda has become pregnant. At this time Oroonoko has realized that slavery and man is bad and that they could not bring this child into the world as a slave, and he had to get free to save this baby. For his love of Imoinda and of his unborn child he was willing to risk it all, and worked his hardest to get out of slavery. When it had become clear to him that he wouldn’t be able to save them all, he decided to commit the greatest sacrifice in his mind for love, he decided that they would rather be dead, then in the horrible institution of slavery. “and there was as much magnificence as the country would afford at the celebration of this wedding: and in a very short time after she conceived with child, which made Caesar even adore her, knowing he was the last of his great race” it was in this moment that he realized how terrible the institution of slavery was and how grave a position he was putting his child into. He now realized that he had to break free for his child. When he couldn’t escape slavery he decided the next best thing in his lovestruck mind, to seek revenge on Byam, and to ensure that his child would never be in slavery, even if that meant he would never get to meet his child.
With this Oroonoko showed to us what it means to live with a certain amount of genuineness and how this can easy lead to heartbreak, but he also shows us how at times it can also lead to great joy and happiness.