Mainly from 4:26 to 6:13 and from 10:28 to 13:40
In the story of Oroonoko, one of the main theme, or the most outstanding theme of the novel by Aphra Behn is slavery. In my opinion, Behn’s purpose of publishing this novel is to inform the people around the world about slavery because the publishing time of this novel is actually the period when slavery first become more popular and crueler. Most of the climate scenes in this story addresses the cruelty of slavery, how slaves have no right, no freedom, and how bad they are being treated. For example, at the end of the story, Oroonoko was cut into pieces and threw into the fire by the executioner to give a warning to all the other slaves of the plantations. Even until death, the slave owners wouldn’t allow the slaves to “rest and peace” because in the slave owners’ mind, their slaves are merely their tools, and they paid for these slaves so they own them even until they died. Thinking about it makes me frightened, Oroonoko, once a prince, a god of wars who is surely admired by many people fallen into becoming a slave. Also, when Imoinda bets Oroonoko to kill her when she has a baby to protect the suffering of their future generation terrifies me because it is not common for someone to sacrifice her own happy life with her loved one, the life of the baby of her and her loved one, and leaves her loved one alone in this cruel world. This shows how much pain and suffering every slave endure throughout their life as a slave. In my opinion, this novel has a strong emotional incentive to push people to go against slavery. If only people have pay more attention to this book and the lesson behind it, slavery may end earlier and fewer people would have had to suffer from slavery. Regarding this video commentary that I choose, I pick it because I think that this digital user gives me a lot of significant points addressing slavery in this story.