Slavery was an economic and cultural standard in this era when these two stories were written: Oroonoko by Aphra Ben and Candide by Voltaire.
In the story of Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave, the captain of a transport vessel persuades Oroonoko to board the ship under the pretense that he would be reunited with his partner and later delivers him into slavery. Not only was he forced into slavery, Imoinda, his beloved companion also is marketed into slavery. Oroonoko later states to the other unsuspecting passengers on the ship, “And why my dear friends and fellow-sufferers, should we be slaves to an unknown people? Have they vanquished us nobly in fight? Have they won us in honorable battle? And are we by the chance of war become their slaves?” (Beiner). In this quote Oroonoko is stating that they were convinced under a false pretense to board the ship under less than noble design. Do they really deserve to be treated in this way? Agitated, he becomes more concerned for the well-being of Imoinda and his people . She is carrying their offspring and he did not want his child to be born into this uncourageous slavery. So, what choices should he consider? Feeling hopeless at this point he decides death would be the only solution that would re-establish any form of his freedom and self-respect.
In the story of Candide, slavery also was an established occurrence in this time frame. Candide interacts with a woman named Cunegonde with whom the story develops. The couple is separated by her family. Cunegonde tells how she escaped death during a political overthrow but became a mistress . There was also another character that was referred to as the “old woman” who had experienced slavery. She truly believes she has it the worst out of all of them. Going on with her story, she exclaims that she was once a very beautiful young woman. Then suddenly her world turned upside down as she was captured by pirates and eventually raped. Adding to her humiliation, they cut off one of her buttocks and ate it for dinner. After telling her story the old woman exclaimed, “I should like to know which is worse: to be ravished a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected… or simply to sit here and do nothing?” (Voltaire). She could not decide if this experience was better or worse than simply sitting there and doing nothing or basically surviving.
In conclusion, slavery was all around. People were being tricked and immersed into slavery all the time. Although this was a miserable occurrence, everyone learned a lesson from these experiences. Justifying Candide’s optimism, if they had not been sold into slavery, they would not have all met each other and learned a little from one another’s stories. Each character learned they were not alone or immune and it gave them a sense of hope to survive together.
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Two Mirrored Slavery Fates Described in Oroonoko and Voltaire´s Candide.
(2023, February 01). Edubirdie. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/two-mirrored-slavery-fates-described-in-oroonoko-and-voltaires-candide/
“Two Mirrored Slavery Fates Described in Oroonoko and Voltaire´s Candide.” Edubirdie, 01 Feb. 2023, edubirdie.com/examples/two-mirrored-slavery-fates-described-in-oroonoko-and-voltaires-candide/
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2023 Feb 01 [cited 2024 Apr 26].
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