Othering / Eurocentrism in Oroonoko

Behn depicts the natives of Surinam, with whom the British live, as being in "perfect peace," as innocent as Adam and Eve. Their native innocence is set against the corruption of civilization which is identified, in this work, with Europeans (1). The native people are portrayed as having basic human virtues such as creative artistry ("beads of all colors, knives, axes, pins and needles") and modesty ("very modest and shy and despite living practically naked, there is never seen among them any improper or indecent behavior," 2). They have basic survival skills which are lost by advanced technological societies; they can climb trees and fish for food. Morally, they are far better than the European slave traders, who also lie (although the vast majority of Europeans were not slave traders). The African prince Oroonoko is a model of nobility and honor, a magnificent physical powerhouse capable of killing two tigers that the whites could not kill. Oroonoko also will die for his belief in freedom.

Behn's presentation of the natives and cololonists is mixed, and despite the model of the noble savage, she fully embraces the innate superiority of European people and European culture. The natives really are depicted as savages: "they cut into pieces all they could take, getting into houses and hanging up the mother and all her children about her" (54). When the narrator accompanies her social group of whites to the native village, the natives practically fall down in adoration of their skin, clothes, shoes and hair. Also, Oroonoko is portrayed as beautiful in terms of European physiognomy: "The most famous statuary cou'd not form the figure of a man more admirably turned from head to foot...His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat. His mouth, the finest shap'd that could be seen...The whole proportion and air of his face was so noble, and exactly formed, that, bating his colour, there cou'd be nothing in nature more beautiful, agreeable, and handsome" (8). Oroonoko is exceptional even among his people because he was educated and taught manners by a French tutor. His great virtue might be attributed to his nonnative education.