hiii, i love your writeups, i was wondering if you could expand a little on your oroonoko and illyrians comparison. i read it awhile back in school, and my general takeaway is that behn thinks slavery is bad, but only because it might accidentally happen to the ānobleā kind of Africans like oroonoko, whose goodness is based largely on their ability to assimilate into europeans/whiteness, (while also only criticizing individual actors in the colonial system who were just mean about colonization instead of any criticism of colonization itself). is this what you meant, that sjm portrays the subjugation of illyrians as an overall good with a few exceptional individuals (ie Cassian and Azriel) being unworthy?
thank you soooo much!!!! And Yes! thats exactly what I was getting at.
I had a whole one-to-one write up on the comparisons between Oroonoko and what what we see with the Illyrians, but alas it is lost to time! In short - Oroonoko, later dubbed Cesar, is an interesting character because he is more a figment of the author's imagination. I would argue he's a contradiction of traits that isn't meant to be real. It's not even that he can assimilate, but that --in the spirit of a lay -- he exudes this spirit of classical, antiquated Greco-Roman qualities. He's essentially a white man covered in Black skin. That is the distinction. There's something about the set of his nose, the 'glossy gleam' of his skin. He's brutal, he's 'noble', he's mocha-chocolate that never loses its shine...and he sounds very familiar. He is both outwardly other, and intrinsically familiar. This as a comparison to his kin, who are described as the 'ashy' and 'wide-nosed:
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 āem being like Snow, as were his Teeth. His Nose was rising andĀ Roman, instead ofĀ AfricanĀ and flat: His Mouth the finest shaped that could be seen; far from those great turnād Lips, which are so natural to the rest of the Negroes. The whole Proportion and Air of his Face was so nobly and exactly formād, that bating his Colour, there could be nothing in Nature more beautiful, agreeable and handsome.
The Illyrians operate in that same kind of fictitious racial grey area. A set of contradictory traits that are more fluid than sternly established. This gives the Illyrians flexibility and SJM plausible deniability. I think another character (who is more of an example) is Xaden from the Fourth Wing series. Their these tan, sexy, exotic, male characters, with ambiguous dark skin, and 'dark motifs'. They are not aligned to a specific (irl) culture, and tend to be a mish-mash of black/brown universal culture (think: James Cameron's use of black and indigenous cultures in Avatar). Buy I think Rhys is a perfect example of creating this 'ideal fictional (ambiguous) man of color' that puts white readers at ease. He's different, but cultured in a way that is deeply european/fae.
At the cusp of this is the idea of obedience and silence are huge players. A huge distinction between Rhysand and Tamlin is that...Rhysand suffers in silence. He doesn't 'burden' Feyre with the fifty years of trauma he receives. Rhysand isn't a character, but a 'contradiction' of traits that isn't real. And not real in a life sense, but in the sense that Rhysand doesn't undergo any character development. Like - not even a little. He is expected to 'do the right thing' which usually means taking on the burden himself.
Rhysand exists at the cusp of this discussion. At the core of their characters, Cassian and Az exist to uphold Rhysand's superiority, not to be in competition with it. Rhysand exists as this contradiction of traits: he hails from a brutal warrior culture, and was raised in this culture, but from a distance. He's sexy and dark and exotic but also pale, noble, and supposedly introspective. The portion of him that is sexy and dark and brutal is aligned with the Illyrians; Illyrian culture what makes him a warrior, but his fae side is what makes him smart, cunning, and observational. It's his 'court skills". Illyrians take a tribal, semi-feudal approach. They 'live in tents' - they assume a warrior culture, in which they willingly kill themselves for a chance to fight in an army for a place they will never have access to. They are described as universally stupid, and staunchly aligned to that. Cassian and Azriel are elevated to this position of power, but they are also (out of thousands) the only Illyrians who are 'smart enough' to realize the problem with their society. And to reward them - they end up being the only Illyrians with seven siphons. And even they are still shown to be brutish in comparison. Those traits are intentional. They exist as these dark-coded men who exists within the realm of fetishization and denigration.
