My experience reading Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko novel was so akin to The Life of Olaudah Equiano which, funnily enough, was published a century later. I think that both novels involve themes of racial identity through the experience of slavery. They both contribute to the greater conversation/debate on the existence of slavery and more specifically the harm that it poses on a legal, economic, and moral/ethical level. Behn and Equiano both argue that slavery is inherently subhumanizing as the labor of enslaved Africans/black people is exploited ten fold under heinous conditions. Behn frames this in a social aspect. She has this interesting way of framing this unnamed narrator as its own character and narrative role to the story. 

His Face was not of that brown rusty Black which most of that Nation are, but a perfect Ebony, or polished Jet. His Eyes were the most aweful that could 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 shaped that could be seen; far from those great turn’d Lips, which are so natural to the rest of the Negroes. The whole Proportion and Air 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. There was no one Grace wanting, that bears the Standard of true Beauty. (Behn, 19) 

Upon initially reading this, I heavily criticized the racial/social connotations behind the way Behn describes Oroonoko. He’s being propped up in comparison to his peers due to his “Eurocentric” features. The framing of this creates a monolith with black people and indicates that features are innate to race not to mention the way it’s seen as ugly in comparison. I found that some elements of Behn’s writing are definitely melded in with the common sentiments and conceptualizations surrounding the era(the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade). I’d definitely agree that she has institutional power and benefits from slavery but I’d probably argue that this is done to somehow foreshadow the tragic fate and betrayal of OROONOKO. Despite him possessing these favorable attributes and almost a feasible proximity to whiteness, his status is still stripped from him.