Oroonoko’s Accidental Abolition Activist Ooronoko: or the Royal Slave is a story of a brave and young West African Prince who was taken from the Ivory Coast and sold into slavery in the northern part of South America by British Colonizers. A Caucasian female, who grew up in a world where people who were not white were barely seen as human beings especially if they were of African descent, narrates the novel. Ooronoko’s tale begins with the readers being greeted by the anonymous English female narrator who is waiting on a trip back to Europe from the plantation on South Africa that Ooronoko was sent. Early on in the story it becomes clear narrator completely intends to give an exceptionally detailed and vivid description of what exactly is taking place during her stay in South America and the goings on in Ooronoko’s life both before and after he becomes a slave. What the writer notices during her stay in these two foreign lands are very much what you would expect of someone who is seeing people and places for the first time. Often times when people are amazed by something or in a place for a first time, their discussions about it are usually long and explicit. Her detailed descriptions are likely a result of her being amazed at these people and their behavior and much less likely to be her making an attempt to abolish all slavery and create a better relationship with the Native Americans. *Oroonoko: the Royal Slave is a novel that does not have enough evidence for someone to say the author was advocating for the abolition of slavery or even much condemning slavery or social inequality and may perhaps be reinforcing the beliefs that some slave masters already had towards blacks.*
Whether done intentionally or not, the narrator’s extreme details provide a magnificent learning opportunity for the readers. Her opinions and attention to detail allows readers to