Throughout history, slaves have been treated like animals and thought of as property, not human beings. Even Oroonoko, a handsome, statuesque prince is turned into a slave because of his race, and is degraded and mistreated. To racist slave owners, the horrible treatment of Africans was acceptable because they were a different species, and no amount of education or beauty could save them. Behn shows how unjust and brutal slavery is in Oroonoko. The treatment of slaves is comparable to the treatment of the poor, as both have few rights, and both are unjustly judged and mistreated based on social status.

Behn begins Oroonoko with a description of the native people: they have long black hair, wear jewelry and paint flowers on their faces, and "have all that is called Beauty, except the Colour, which is reddish Yellow." They possess the same features that Europeans do, but their...