Problem: British Literature
I. Take some time to look through the biography linked on Blackboard. What details about Behn's life, career, and reputation doyou find most interesting?
II. Before we get much detail about Oroonoko and his life in Africa, the narrator gives us an extended portrait of the natives of Surinam, where the action of the story will eventually shift. What details does she emphasize?
III. Soon after the description of Surinam, we begin to learn about Coramantien, the African nation of Oroonoko and Imoinda. What are its main traits as the narrator describes it (the people, the social system, the politics)? How does it compare with that of Surinam's natives? Why does Behn provide us with this contrast?
IV. As early as the first page, Behn calls Oroonoko an ideal "hero." Based on the first half of the novella (before he arrives on the plantation in Surinam), how does she seem to define the idea of the hero or the heroic? Where in the text specifically? You might also think about how he compares to Beowulf, or our Arthurian heroes.
V. Consider the ways in which Behn treats Oroonoko as a black African person. Where in the text does she draw attention to his race, and why? What does it tell us about European attitudes towards race and racism at the time Behn is writing?
VI. Imoinda is also described somewhat as an ideal. What makes her so? What are her main characteristics? (You might compare her to the idealization of Stella by Sidney/Astrophil?)
VII. I personally find the behavior or Oroonoko's grandfather rather odd. How does Behn portray him and his actions? Is he simply being used as a foil (someone to contrast with Oroonoko), or is she making some greater point about human behavior, rulers, and power, do you think?