To better understand some of the nuanced and intimate perceptions of transatlantic slave trade throughout the years between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, any student of history would benefit from taking the time to examine some of the writings produced during a particular era that may fall into the category of historical fiction. This is not to say these writings would be expected to reveal any concrete historical accuracies; instead, they may allow the reader to gain any potential insights into how the historical events could have influenced the author to write about the subject matter they had. The transatlantic slave trade was a behemoth of industry. It was a system which almost guaranteed a level of financial security for those involved with the

trading. Slave owners had access to free labor and so it only took the proper management of their financial affairs to turn a significant profit. Worse yet, it was profit which saw a horrific and nearly everlasting return in the future generations born into slavery and separated from their families; not to be born a free person, driven by their own aspirations. Still, the human cost involved, which had been villainously ignored for too long, would expose the transatlantic slave trade as a destructive and explicitly inhuman system. One devised and believed righteous or no, as a means for a more prosperous future. And in a system, such as this, two main categories would exist - one is a slave, while the other is the slave owner. One individual's future might be littered with possibility, while the others’ can only be envisioned as miserable and bleak; a future not much worth having if it is not one’s own.

Through the lens of restorations through revolutions, taking the time to understand some of the more influential writings during the time of the transatlantic slave trade, opens a range of possible understandings and insights on the matter. Readers may be surprised to learn something new about how the trade differed dependent on the region; or that slaves were not always taken from the lower rungs of a society; or how the transatlantic slave trade emboldened many local and isolated systems of slavery, only reaffirming the wholly selfish motivations of any slave owner.

Aphra Behn is one author whose work stands out as an example of the writings that may offer more than originally anticipated. Behn’s Oronooko is the tale of a prince who had been forsaken by his own family and turned over to slave traders. Behn, having had her own experiences encountering slavery in it is numerous of forms, provides an intriguing perspective into slavery.

Being a woman in a male dominated society, Behn makes strides in forms of expression as Oronooko provides the reader with a sympathetic, and emotionally moving tale of a royal slave who risks his life for freedom and love. However, due to the ambiguous voice of the story’s narrator, as well as Behn’s actual proximity to slavery, particularly throughout the British colonies in Africa, some questions can be raised as to whether how much of Behn’s experiences on the continent influenced the direction and purpose of her novel. Now having written the novel when she did, it is possible Behn also romanticizes aspects of the transatlantic slave trade to lure in those who may be persuaded to thinking differently about slavery or appear benign enough to draw

attention away from the obvious injustices and challenges brought out against slavery.

Oronooko is one of the very first writings of its form to engage readers with a perspective that challenges the foundations of slavery and establishes itself as a legitimate work of historical fiction which also provides historical insight when taking the author’s history, the context and content into account. Behn’s masterful use of language paints an off-putting picture of a world, a surreal reflection of our own and its history, so pointedly at times, that the reader may find themselves having difficulty discerning between Behn’s and the narrator’s intent, or ideals. Some of the more noticeable examples of Behn’s, or the narrator’s critiques are found early in the story. First is an

excerpt detailing Oronooko as an exceptional and majestic individual, though with a slant mirroring that of a white imperialist. Second is the description of Imoinda, and her magnificent beauty which appears to emphasize how much of her world was influenced and tailored by massive industry fueled by transatlantic slavery:

He was adorned with a native beauty, so transcending all those of his gloomy race that he struck an awe and reverence even into those that knew not his quality; as he did into me, who beheld him with surprise and wonder, when afterwards he arrived in our world.

There is an immediate need to highlight the racist thinking of the passage, which alludes to an accepted cultural understanding that Africans are of a ‘gloomy race.’ It seems almost as if great effort had been made to have Oronooko standout as a considerable outlier, even in such racially horrifying of contexts. Still, it may be one more way for the work to remain innocuous while continuing the spread of proto-abolitionist concepts:

To describe her truly, one need say only, she was female to the noble male; the beautiful black Venus to our young Mars; as charming in her person as he, and of delicate virtues. I have seen a

hundred white men sighing after her, and making a thousand vows at her feet, all in vain, and unsuccessful.

Here, we see the scale to which female beauty is measured. The narrator is describing the physicality of Imoinda, Oronooko’s love interest. Imoinda’s worth in this instance seems to be based primarily on her appearance. More interesting is the notion that the vows of affection from one thousand white men is a scale to which any, or all women should use to gauge or form their own standards of physique.

Both Aphra Behn and her novel Oronooko are intriguing forces of anti-slavery sentiment in a time when transatlantic slavery reigned supreme. Oronooko manages to hold up as legitimate in its efforts to portray a historically accurate and believable setting. Some of the novel’s themes are still very relevant today and it remains invaluable as a source of historical perspective.

Work Cited

Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689. Oroonoko, Or, The Royal Slave. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's,

2000.