***Very often when writing a paper, I do my very best to find a challenging topic that most people would not want to or choose to cover. In doing so, I initially get a bit opposition from my professors. I have often been told that I will not be able to write about the novel of my choosing because it would be difficult to support my idea. For this particular paper, my teacher told me that it would be difficult come up with something that had not been said before about Aphra Behn's novella Oroonoko, but I was determined to write about Oroonoko and came up with a topic that has not been thought about; or if it has, not much has been written on it. Needless to say, I received an A+ on this paper which made me feel very good about my decision to pursue this novel. So, without further adieu, here is the first few paragraphs from the paper. ENJOY!
Passing With Anticipation
Although it seems that Aphra Behn’s novella Oroonoko is a story about the tragic life of a slave that came from royalty, it can also be seen as a novel of passing. Through Behn’s descriptions of Oroonoko, her account of how he is treated, and how he is held above the other slaves; it could be said that Behn was anticipating the phenomenon of passing that would occur later on in the early to mid twentieth century. By taking an in depth look at the way Oroonoko is treated by those around him, I will endeavor to support the idea that Oroonoko, as a slave, was able to pass in his surroundings, even though the passing was by no design of his own. I will also give a brief account of what passing is.
The term passing here is not used in the way that it is most commonly used; the way the term passing generally refers to racial passing. Meaning a person of one race pretending to be or being accepted as another race. One definition of passing created by Randall Kennedy is that “passing is a deception that enables a person to adopt certain roles or identities from which he would be barred by prevailing social standards in the absence of his misleading conduct” (1). Kennedy shines a negative light on passing; he seems to pinpoint it as a potentially negative thing and that it is always something that a person chooses for themselves. Kennedy seems to think that passing is always a conscious decision, but that is not always accurate. There were many people that did not necessarily choose to pass, but would allow the benefits of passing to be bestowed upon them if someone thought that they were of a different race. The notion of passing is most prevalent within the African American community. If it was said that a black person passed, that means that they pretended to be Caucasian or of European decent. In order to pass, the individual wishing to pass needed to have light enough skin that it could be mistaken for the skin of a Caucasian individual. There were different variations of passing, some blacks would “…engage in temporary passing…to advance occupational ambition, some passed as white during the workday, while presenting themselves as African American outside of the workplace” (Kennedy 2). There were also some black people that could pass but refused the idea. Passing has been a part of the African American community for a long time; even dating back to the 1800’s with Thomas Jefferson’s racially mixed children (Kennedy 2-3). In the twentieth century, many novels have been written about passing; one in particular is Passing by Nella Larsen. Her novel is about two light skinned black women, one of whom chooses to pass permanently while the other chooses not to. The one who chooses not to pass permanently does allow herself to reap the benefits of passing if someone assumes that she is white based upon her skin color.
Another way of looking at passing is how Stephen Knadler describes it. He describes passing as “…a way of challenging [racial] categories and boundaries…passing has the potential to create a space for creative self determination and agency” (64). Here Knadler is arguing that passing shows the artificial and socially constructed boundaries that exist between the races. This makes sense because if an individual of one race looks so much like another that they are accepted by those people as one of their own, then that shows that race, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Therefore, if one’s race is determined by their facial features or the color of their skin then race is something that cannot truly be pinned down. However, Knadler does make it a point to say that “…whiteness is not just about learned behavior, but also privileges; it is a legally recognized identity property that confers entitlements – including, historically, the opportunity to sample other cultures and pass with impunity” (70). What he means by this is that despite the fact he believes race to be artificially constructed, you cannot ignore the benefits or disadvantages that are associated with being a particular race; in this example, being white is beneficial in America. This is evidence for why some people might choose to pass; they may believe that by passing their lives would be easier; this is also why many people, who chose not to pass would allow the benefits of passing to fall upon them every once in awhile. These ideas can be applied to Oroonoko because he is able to pass and sample the culture of the European settlers with impunity until the tragic death of Imoinda and himself; all due to the way he is received and perceived by the colonists in Surinam.
The narrator, as well as the other inhabitants of Surinam, holds Oroonoko in the highest esteem. The first physical description we are given of Oroonoko is by the narrator:
His face was not the rusty brown Black which most of that Nation are, but of perfect Ebony, or polished Jett. His eyes were the most awful that cou’d be seen, and very piercing; the White of ‘em being like Snow, as were his Teeth. His Nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat. His Mouth the finest shape that could be seen; far from those great turn’d Lips, which are so natural to the rest of the Negroes…the whole Portion of his Face was so nobly and exactly form’d, that bating his Colour, there could be nothing in Nature more beautiful, agreeable and handsome (Behn 8).
It is important to note that the narrator continuously compares Oroonoko's features to things that are white, in contrast with stereotypical black features of the other slaves. It could be surmised that the only reason why the narrator finds him attractive is because he has many features that resemble those of white or European individuals. This is significant because this shows how she views beauty. In her social community, whiteness is the standard of beauty that all others are measured against; and a person’s level of attractiveness is determined by their proximity to whiteness. She explicitly says that herself, when she says that everything about him was perfect except for the color of his skin (Behn 8). It is clear that blackness is not a feature that is held high up on the totem pole of beauty. This is very similar to the black people that chose to pass for white in the early to mid twentieth century. Because these people looked white, they were accepted as white and deemed a useful and beneficial member of and to society despite their real ancestry. The narrator continues her description of Oroonoko by commenting on the way he speaks. She says that “…his Discourse was admirable upon almost any subject: and whoever had heard him speak, wou’d have been convinced of their Errors, that all fine Wit is confined to the white men, especially to those of Christendom…” (Behn 8). Once again, she is comparing Oroonoko to Europeans and European standards of intelligence, etiquette, and speech. It would appear that she is giving Oroonoko rather high praise being that he is an African, but on the same token, he is only being praised because of how close he seems to be to whiteness.
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Works Cited
Behn, Aphra. Oroonoko: Or, The Royal Slave. A True History. New York: Norton, 1973. Print.
Holmesland, Oddvar. "Aphra Behn's "Oroonoko": Cultural Dialectics and the Novel." ELH 68.1 (2001): 57-79. JSTOR. Web. 5 Nov. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/30031959>.
Iwanisziw, Susan B. "Behn's Novel Investment in "Oroonoko": Kingship, Slavery and Tobacco in English Colonialism." South Atlantic Review 63.2 (1998): 75-98. JSTOR. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3201039>.
Kennedy, Randall. "Racial Passing." Ohio State Law Journal 61.1145 (2001): 1-28. Print.
Knadler, Stehpen. "Traumatized Racial Performativity: Passing in Nineteenth-Century African-American Testimonies." Cultural Critique 55 (2003): 63-100. JSTOR. Web. 5 Nov. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1354649>.
Ligon, Richard. Slavery on the English Island of Barbados, Excerpts. Comp. National Humanities Center. A True & Exact History of the Island of Barbados. 2nd ed. London: Frank Cass, 1653. 1-4. Print.
Pacheco, Anita. "Royalism and Honor in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko." Studies in English Literature 34.3 (1994): 491-506. JSTOR. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/450878>.
Rivero, Albert J. "Aphra Behn's "Oroonoko" and the "Blank Spaces" of Colonial Fictions." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 39.3 (1999): 443-62. JSTOR. Web. 5 Nov. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1556214>.
