Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

Oroonoko by Aphra Behn

2 reviews

fieldofhats's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Read for British Literature.

This was one of the more entertaining and exciting texts I have read for my Brit Lit class, though I don’t feel comfortable giving it more than 2 stars. I think this may have been very progressive for the early 18th century, but it’s very racist in the modern sense, which is uncomfortable at the very least. Oroonoko is constantly praised for his western features and interests, and it’s implied that he’s only beautiful because of that. And, through a series of nonsensical contrivances, he is “forced” to kill his wife and then brutally torture himself in a fit of insanity, before he is eventually put to death. This was one of the worst endings I have ever read in a book, period. Aphra Behn was going for an honor-bound duty-or-death type of thing, but it didn’t work because it wasn’t necessary. He didn’t need to kill his wife (or himself, though that’s at least a common literary theme) to take revenge. One might say that this is just a product of its time and that this is how all premodern literature is, but I call bullshit on that. In the literary world Shakespeare, the King Arthur myths, The Canterbury Tales, etc., this was just plain bad.

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question47's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5


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