The Middle Passage In Oroonobe's Things Fall Apart

The Middle Passage is known as a trade route where the three main ports form a triangle. In fact, the ships would begin in England, then journey to Africa, and would sail to the West Indies back to England. For one thing, these ships did not just trade technology and goods, but also slaves from Africa. This can be seen in the story of “Oroonoko” where an African prince is first introduced, as a romantic character who is praised for his victories in battle and beauty is taken from his homeland to the West Indies to serve the English, as a slave. Although, his tragedy is not for seen, as he arrives to Surinam because his owner and other slaves still treat him with dignity and promise him his freedom will soon be established. Also, Oroonoko is reunited with the love of his life Imoinda and fathers a child. Unfortunately, the news of their impending child is the beginning of his tragedy because it begins to fuel within him the idea that his freedom and his child’s freedom will never be granted. Therefore, Oroonoko organizes a slave revolt to acquire freedom for all of …show more content…
Although, this may be true, but there are times when the protagonist themselves are committing these criminal acts due to the influences of the change in environmental or social factors. This can be seen in the two fictional stories of “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift and “Oroonoko” by Aphra Behn. In “Gulliver’s Travels”, the main character Gulliver is met with many allegations for committing illegal acts, while in “Oroonoko” the main character Oroonoko is sentenced to death because of the crimes he commits. In Behn and Swift’s fictional stories their main characters Gulliver and Oroonoko, are known as protagonists that condone in criminal behavior illegal in England, England’s colonies, or imaginary islands and suffer the consequences of their