Faith Filled Friday: Understanding The Trinity by St. Hildegard of Bingen

I was just reading the Mass readings from Trinity Sunday last week in the devotional monthly magazine, Magnificat. The meditation was particularly penetrating, taken from the writings of St. Hildegard of Bingen.

The creator and Lord of all so loved his people that for their salvation he sent his Son, the Prince and Savior of the faithful, who washed and dried our wounds.  And he exuded the sweetest balm, from which flow all good things for salvation...For the Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and these three Persons are indivisible in the Unity of the Divinity...

As the flame of a fire has three qualities, so there is one God in three Persons.  How? A flame is made up of brilliant light and red power and fiery heat.  It has a brilliant light that it may shine, and red power that it may endure, and fiery heat that it may burn.  Therefore, by the brilliant light understand the Father, who with paternal love opens his brightness to his faithful; and by the red power, which is the flame that it may be strong, understand the Son, who took on body born from a Virgin, in which his divine wonders were shown; and by the fiery heat understand the Holy Spirit, who burns ardently in the minds of the faithful....Therefore as these three qualities are found in one flame, so three Persons must be understood in the Unity of the Divinity.

And as three causes for the production of words are seen, so the Trinity in the Unity of the Divinity is to be inferred.  How?  In a word there is sound, meaning, and breath.  It has sound that it may be heard, meaning that it may be understood, and breath that it may be pronounced.  In the sound, then, observe the Father, who manifests all things with ineffable power, in the meaning; the Son, who was miraculously; and in the breath, the Holy Spirit, who sweetly burns in them....Therefore, in these three Persons recognize you God, who created you in the power of his divinity and redeemed you.

--St. Hildegard of Bigen, from Scivias, translated by Mother Columba Hart and Jane Bishop [taken from Magnificat magazine, June 2020, p. 106-107]

I have said that truly understanding the Trinity is nearly impossible, probably the hardest thing in Christianity to conceptualize and accept. St. Hildegard’s explanation is possibly the best I have ever heard.

Music Tuesday: Living in a Ghost Town by the Rolling Stones

A week and a half ago I posted a personal essay, “Covid-19, My New YorkExperience,” on what it has been like here in New York City over this virus shutdown.  

As it turns out, the rock group, The Rolling Stones put out a single on the subject of our new living conditions.  It’s called “Living in a Ghost Town,” and it’s pretty cool.  For those that don’t know or don’t remember, I happen to be a Rolling Stones fan, so maybe I’m biased.  Here’s the single for Music Tuesday.

First, here's the official video. 

I love those “whoah whoah.”  And Jagger’s harmonica is just great.

And I liked the clips in this video as it took you around the world to various cities.  This version also has an extra verse.

I couldn’t make up my mind as to which video to embed, so I did both.  Which do you prefer?

Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave by Aphra Behn, Part 3

This is the third and final post in a series on the novel, Oronooko or the Royal Slave  by Aphra Behn. 

You can find Part 1 here.  

Part 2 is here.  

Continuing with the various themes…

Kingship

The importance and nature of kingship is I think the central theme of the novel.  It is around this that Behn’s vision creates both character and plot.  The grand nature of Oronooko, his military prowess, his commanding presence, his exploits, his moral code, his intelligence and mien, and his reduction to a slave from which breaks free, if not in life than in death, shows a man with divine properties.  It is his innate, instinctive qualities that make him for Behn a natural born king.  He is a prince, so genetically he is endowed by Providence.  The narrator’s first reaction upon seeing him is one of encountering the sublime:

[Oronooko] was adorned with a native beauty so transcending all those of his gloomy race, that he struck an awe and reverence, even in those that not his quality; as he did in me, who beheld him with a surprise and wonder, when afterwards he arrived in our world.  (79)

And from his countenance, the narrator intuits:

He came into the room, and addressed himself to me, and some other women, with the best grace in the world. He was pretty tall, but of a shape the most exact that can be fancied; the most famous statuary could not form the figure of a man more admirably turned from head to foot… The whole proportion and air of his face was so noble, and exactly formed, 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… Nor did the perfections of his mind come short of those of his person; for his discourse was admirable upon almost any subject; and whoever had heard him speak, would have been convinced of their errors, that all fine wit is confined to the white men, especially to those of Christendom; and would have confessed that Oroonoko was as capable even of reigning well, and of governing as wisely, had as great a soul, as politic maxims, and was as sensible of power as any prince civilized in the most refined schools of humanity and learning, or the most illustrious courts.  (80-81)

What we see here is that Oronooko is naturally aristocratic, divinely blessed with all the gifts of a great warrior and philosopher king. 

One should note the immediate history of Kingship in England as Behn, sympathetic to the monarchist, would have seen it.  Henry VIII by his succession of wives, infidelities, and dissolving of the bond with Rome and becoming the head of his own church was seen as a dissolute King.  It is quite possible that Oronooko’s grandfather, as King of the fictional African country, with his temper tantrums and concubines, was an allusion to Henry VIII.  England then passed through a national religious crises and a crises in succession, which culminated in the installment of Charles I as King.  Charles had a high monarchist view of the Kingship—that is as divine right—and conflicted terribly with Parliament.  That was the central question of 17^th century England, where do the powers of the King end and what should be the powers of the parliament.  In addition, the English cultural landscape was still undergoing a crises in religious constitution.  While Catholicism had been alienated and diminished, a struggle had ensued between the Puritans (named so because they wished to purify the English Church of Catholicism) and the High Anglicans who maintained liturgy and many Catholic practices.  The conflict between Parliament and the Monarchy was not on the surface a religious conflict, but religious conflicts of the day intertwined with the political.  Charles I was a High Anglican, but had married a Catholic.  Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, was Puritan.  In short, a civil war developed, Charles I was executed, Cromwell ruled until his death, upon which Charles II, son of Charles I, restored the monarchy.  Charles II was also High Anglican, but he too had married a Catholic, and his sympathies may have been with Catholicism even more so than his father.  Charles II died in 1685 (converting to Catholicism on his death bed, by the way), replaced his brother James II.  James II was an outright Catholic and within three years in 1688, the year Oronooko was written, was deposed for a Protestant King.

It is within this context that Behn writes of kingship in Oronooko or The Royal Slave.  That is the full title of the work.  Calling Oronooko “royal” is a loaded word in her historical context.  It certainly calls up a political position, and given Oronooko is a natural, divinely graced king, it is clear that Behn is supporting the royalist position.  If Oronooko’s grandfather alludes to Henry VIII, Orinooko, as gallant warrior king, philosopher, and gentleman courtier alludes to Henry V.  Undoubtedly, Behn had either read or seen Shakespeare’s play on the great monarch.  Recall that Henry V is valiant in battle, noble in spirit, and gentle with Catherine of Valois.  Oronooko is an African Henry V.

Christ-Figure

Behn uses several allusions to either move the plot and characterize Oronooko within the story.  I have mentioned Achilles and Henry V, and there is also Othello in the killing of his wife, but the last sections Oronooko clearly becomes a Christ-figure.  When he gathers the slaves into a group, we see them abandon him, betray, and once captured scourged by his own fellow slaves.

But they were no sooner arrived at the place, where all the slaves receive their punishments of whipping, but they laid hands on Caesar and Tuscan, faint with heat and toil; and, surprising them, bound them to two several stakes, and whipped them in a most deplorable and inhumane manner, rending the very flesh from their bones; especially Caesar, who was not perceived to make any moan, or to alter his face, only to roll his eyes on the faithless governor, and those he believed guilty, with fierceness and indignation. And, to complete his rage, he saw every one of those slaves, who, but a few days before, adored him as something more than mortal, now had a whip to give him some lashes, while he strove not to break his fetters, though, if he had, it were impossible. But he pronounced a woe and revenge from his eyes, that darted fire, that ’twas at once both awful and terrible to behold. (131)

Oronooko does survive this and once returned to the safety of Parham plantation, plots his revenge.  The Governor, not satisfied with Oronooko surviving that ordeal, demands he be handed over from Trefry.  One could see this as a sort of Pilate and the Sanhedrin haggling over Christ’s fate.  Once recovered, Oronooko kills Imoinda (with her consent) and decides to make a last stand to seek his vengeance.  At this last stand, cornered and angry, he cuts flesh from his neck and throws it at the band who are after him.  This is the scene where some have suggested an allusion to the Eucharist:

[Oronooko] held up his knife in a menacing posture, ‘Look ye, ye faithless crew,’ said he, ‘’ tis not life I seek, nor am I afraid of dying’, and, at that word, cut a piece of flesh from his own throat, and threw it at them, ‘yet still I would live if I could, till I had perfected my revenge. But oh! it cannot be. I feel life gliding from my eyes and heart, and, if I make not haste, I shall yet fall a victim to the shameful whip.’ At that, he ripped up his own belly, and took his bowels and pulled them out, with what strength he could, while some, on their knees imploring, besought him to hold his hand. (138)

Even this is not the end of incredible Oronooko.  He is taken back and surgically patched together.  While recovering, Major Bannister at the command of the governor forcibly took Oronooko, tied him to a stake to be burned.  Stoically he stood fixed at the stake. 

He had learned to take tobacco, and when he was assured he should die, he desired they would give him a pipe in his mouth, ready lighted, which they did, and the executioner came, and first cut off his members, and threw them into the fire. After that, with an ill-favoured knife, they cut his ears, and his nose, and burned them; he still smoked on, as if nothing had touched him. Then they hacked off one of his arms, and still he bore up, and held his pipe. But at the cutting off the other arm, his head sunk, and his pipe dropped, and he gave up the ghost, without a groan, or a reproach. (139-140)

Subsequently his body is quartered and each quarter sent to a plantation for spectacle.  “Thus died this great man, worthy of a better fate,” concludes Aphra Behn.

Oronooko stoically smoking a pipe while tied to a stake, fire smoking around him, and being hacked body part by body part has to be one of the most incredible images in all of literature.  Oronooko or The Royal Slave may be early for Gothic fiction, but, my Lord, that has to be among the most imaginative gothic endings I can recall.  It’s either brilliant or absurd. 

Clearly we can see the rudiments of a Christ passion narrative in the elements of Oronooko’s demise.  Oroonoko is betrayed, abandoned, scourged, and affixed to a pole until dead.  While there are some intervening events in the Oronooko narrative that are not in the passion narrative, the association is clear.  But for what end?  Actually that Oronooko is framed as a Christ-figure makes sense.  If the central theme of the novel is the indignity of enslaving a divinely graced king, then what better to associate with him with the Kingly Servant of Jesus Christ?  I think Behn in the novel is upholding the sacred nature of kingship, which reflects on the political crises in her day. 

Behn creates Oronnoko as a natural king, and that implies a certain divine authority granted to him.  Think of it as Christ the King authorizes a representative on earth.  The Church is Christ's representative on the theological and moral realm; the monarchy is Christ's representative in the administrative realm.  While it not being a sacrament, the installation of a king did (it may even still) involve a religious ceremony.  Kings of England are usually installed by the Bishop of Canterbury, even under Anglicanism.  I don't know how far back it goes, but Charlemagne had the Pope crown him as Holy Roman Emperor.  This practice of anointing kings goes back to Kings Saul and David and the other Kings of the Old Testament.  Shakespeare in Richard II dramatizes the sin of regicide, even when the king is reprehensible.  Behn makes Oronooko out to be a Christ-figure because she sees him as a divine king. What about the suggestion of the Eucharistic parallel to Oronooko cutting his flesh off for others that my friend Mary Sue asked me to evaluate?  Frankly I don’t see it.  But I could be wrong but let me say why I could be wrong first and then get to why I don’t think so.  The reason I could be wrong—and wrong being that Behn meant it as a Eucharistic parallel—is that the words ceremony and sacrifice do run through the novel.  What is the relationship between ceremony and sacrifice in Oronooko’s experiences?  Frankly I can’t piece anything together.  I just don’t see any ceremonies and what are deemed sacrifices seem like mere deaths.  Either I’m missing the importance of ceremony in the novel, or Behn intended it and didn’t communicate it well or she didn’t intend it at all. 

As to why I don’t think there is a Eucharistic parallel, there are several reasons.  First, the bare descriptive facts don’t suggest it: “and, at that word, cut a piece of flesh from his own throat, and threw it at them.”  No one eats his flesh.  He doesn’t offer it to be eaten.  Christ offers His body and blood to His apostles and believers.  Oronooko is throwing it at the mob that wishes to kill him.  Second, Christ doesn’t cut flesh off His body.  He transforms bread and wine into His body and blood.  Even the blood spilled at the crucifixion, no one drinks it.  Oronooko is physically cutting flesh off his neck in what seems like a moment of frustration.  (And what an odd place to cut flesh off one’s body.)  If Behn is creating an analogue, it strikes me as a very poor one.  Third, the Eucharist is a spiritual union with Christ and therefore God.  Jesus establishes the theological grounds in the Gospel of John, chapter six.  He says:

“I am the bread of life.  Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” 

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.  Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.  (John 6; 48-57)

There is no implication that feeding off of Oronooko’s flesh has any theological or spiritual implications.  There is nothing in Oronooko’s act, physically or spiritually, that would suggest an analogue to the Eucharist.

I may be off here, but I don’t see the differences between Christians as being an important theme in the novel.  Yes, the hypocrisy of Christians is dramatized, but it’s a general Christianity that is identified.  I don’t see anything that would distinguish between Puritan, High Anglican, or Roman Catholic.  I couldn’t find any citation to identify Behn’s Christian denomination.  My guess—pure speculation—is she’s High Anglican like Charles II, and perhaps she’s sympathetic to the Catholicism, like the King.  I don’t, however, see any Catholicism in the novel.

It’s also possible, perhaps even likely, that the ending is not meant to allude to a crucifixion at all.  England had developed a rather barbarous execution technique for the worst criminals, hanged, drawn, and quartered, going back from Behn’s day at least four hundred years.  Per the Wikipedia entry, the sufferer would be “hanged (almost to the point of death), emasculated, disembowelled, beheaded, and quartered (chopped into four pieces).”  Oronooko is not hanged and he only disembowels himself, but he is emasculated, hacked to pieces, and quartered for spectacle.  I think this cultural meme is on Behn’s mind, though hanged, drawn, and quartered is in itself a form of crucifixion.  The practice was famously used against hidden Roman Catholics in Elizabethan and Civil War times.  Perhaps some sort of allusion is meant. 

###

Final Goodreads Review:

This fascinating little novel was written in 1688, a generation before Daniel DeFoe, who is typically considered the first modern novelist in English, and written by a woman no less.  The novel follows Oronooko, an African prince who is tricked into slavery by so called “Christians.”  At its core, the novel is about the nature of kingship, which was the big political issue of its day, the Restoration period of English history, but in doing so Aphra Behn creates a narrative of the indignities of slavery, a social position well ahead of her time.  Her woman’s voice and perspective—the tale is told in the first person of Behn as a character in the story—also gives dignity to the female characters.  The prose is dated to Behn’s time, but it is good and rhythmic prose, but some may not enjoy reading that.  Partly woman’s amatory novel, partly heroic action story, and partly slave narrative, the novel doesn’t always seem to know what it should be, but I do think the story holds together.  The story holds together because Behn creates an indelibly memorable character in Oroonoko, who at times recalls Henry V, at times recalls Othello, and other times a Christ-figure.  This novel should be more widely known than it is, at a minimum for its due placement in the history of the novel. 

I initially gave the novel three stars with a statement of three and a half stars if I could be more precise.  My mind still sees it as three and a half stars but I give it four stars as I lean to the higher side.  On reflection the novel has grown on me.

Music Tuesday: Be Not Afraid by Catholic Artists

In these troubled times, here's something to brighten your day and bring some hope. A whole slew of Catholic composers and singers put together a composite rendition of "Be Not Afraid." It's wonderful, especially when you recognize some of the artists.   

I'm sure you've sung it at Mass.  I don’t recognize quite a few of the artists.  I will have to look them up and see if I like their music.

The song was composed by Bob Dufford, S.J. in 1972.  There’s a great article in America magazine (“Be Not Afraid”: The song that eases the biggest transitions in—and out of—life) on how the composition came about.   Bill Clinton even picked it to be sung at church service the morning of his inaugural.  It’s a beautiful song.  Here are the lyrics.

Be Not Afraid

You shall cross the barren desert, but you shall not die of thirst.

You shall wander far in safety though you do not know the way.

You shall speak your words in foreign lands and all will understand.

You shall see the face of God and live.

[Chorus]

Be not afraid.

I go before you always;

Come follow me,

and I will give you rest.

If you pass through raging waters in the sea, you shall not drown.

If you walk amid the burning flames, you shall not be harmed.

If you stand before the pow'r of hell and death is at your side,

know that I am with you through it all.

[Chorus]

Blessed are your poor, for the kingdom shall be theirs.

Blest are you that weep and mourn, for one day you shall laugh.

And if wicked men insult and hate you all because of me,

blessed, blessed are you!

[Chorus]

And when the earth has turned beneath you and your voice is seldom heard,

When the flood of gifts that blessed your life has long since ebbed away,

When your mind is thick and hope is thin and dark is all around,

I will stand beside you till the dawn.

[Chorus]

Personal Essay: Covid-19, My New York Experience

I can’t help but feel that there are two different experiences in the country with the corona virus.  There is the east coast experience and there is the rest of the country.  When one looks at the state by state numbers, the two states of New York and New Jersey make up about a third of all the cases in the country and over 40% of the deaths.  And the New York State numbers are incredibly skewed to New York City.  I think it’s pretty much acknowledged that New York City and the surrounding suburbs have been the epicenter of the contagion.  It does not surprise me then that we are reacting to the lockdown differently.  (Of course this excludes the lack of lockdown to the recent riots across the country.  Does the lockdown even matter any more?)

Here is my experience as a New Yorker, albeit one from Staten Island, which is subtly different than one from Manhattan.   But Manhattan has actually been spared, relatively speaking.  It’s the outer boroughs of the city that has absorbed the brunt of the pandemic.

First let me thank God that no one in my family has contracted the virus.  We are all healthy, both immediate and extended family.  We are definitely stressed out being locked at home and forced to go out with masks and gloves.  But our families are also intact, though I’ve heard some have been on edge.  My immediate family—wife and ten year old Matthew—have not come to any fistfights—and in some ways has brought us closer together.  It’s been about twelve weeks since I’ve been teleworking, and my son started “teleschooling” the week prior.

Second, it’s a good thing that my work dispersed employees and enacted a work-from-home rule.  Of the 3500-ish employees, and we work in New Jersey, I have heard that some 40-something contracted the virus.  That’s not even an up to date number.  That’s more than a month old.  I don’t know how many were hospitalized or maybe even died, though I think it would have gotten out if anyone died.  Still, if we were getting some 1% infected rate while dispersed, I think we would have had quite a large number of infections if we were enclosed our poorly ventilated buildings.

Third, I know of four people from the neighborhood who have contracted the virus and died, two of them friends.  Of the two who were not friends, one was the mother of our pastor at our church, the other a retired member of my Lay Dominican chapter.  Of the two friends who passed, one was a current member of my Lay Dominican chapter.  Her name was Meg and was 85 years old. I think she was in the hospital about ten days or so, and mid-way in her stay this came from her brother:

"She struggled at first. She was unconscious for two days. She is on oxygen, but she is not eating. She had trouble with her kidneys and her liver. They are giving her medicine and [she is] getting better. She still has a long way to go."

A few days later we got word she had passed away.  Meg had survived pneumonia last year—she had been in intensive care—but she did not survive Corona.  Meg was a sweet and devout lady.  She had been a Lay Dominican at least some fifty years.  She never actually said this, but it always felt that Meg thought of me as a son. Eternal rest grant onto her, O Lord.

The other friend who passed was Luigi.  Luigi’s passing was even harder to take.  In early March I think it was, Luigi fell from some stairs inside his home and broke some ribs and was in the hospital for about a week.  This was before the virus lockdown had occurred but the virus had come in to the US in some degree.  In the hospital it appears he caught the corona virus, came home and after a couple of week it blossomed and he had high fever.  He was taken to the ER and placed in ICU and eventually on a ventilator.  He was in ICU for at least a couple of weeks—I’ve lost track of the time span.  No family was ever allowed to see him the whole time he was at the hospital.  He spent the whole time alone, mostly in a coma and without any knowledge of his progress or lack thereof.  He died a lonely death.  The only thing they could do with the body was have it cremated from what I understand.  His family never got to see him again after he went to the hospital that second time. 

My mother and Luigi were wall neighbors of semi-attached homes, so they saw each other every day. Whenever she had an emergency it was Luigi to the rescue. He spoke Italian with my mother, so it was a person she could communicate with. Actually, not just Italian. It so happened that his family and my family were from the same region of Italy, so they spoke the same dialect. He was like a family member. My mother was friends with his mother before his mother passed away. After his mother passed away, Luigi told me that he considered my mother his mother.

Luigi was always so kind and upbeat and jovial. I don't remember him ever being down. He was very talkative, very much an extrovert, and would do anything for you. Italian men can be extroverts, and if you know that type of Italian, that was Luigi.  I pass his house every day and I still see his car there.  He was only 58 years old.  I noticed from his funeral card, which included his birthdate and printed without actually having a wake, we were six months apart.  My mother reflecting on his death said something to the effect, “I’m not afraid of dying, but this is not how I want to die.”

Eternal rest grant unto Luigi, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May God have mercy on his soul and may he rest in eternal peace.

After Luigi passed away, I got to meet (virtually, not through in person contact) one of the nurses who had taken care of him in ICU.  Her name is Florence.  This is what she wrote about being an ICU nurse during the height of the inflammation:

"The corona virus is an unforgiving entity. Most of what it ravages are the elderly, but it has also taken the lives of as young as healthy 21 year olds that we've seen. These past few days, the disease had started to slow down, but midway March was hell I tell you. The number of cases and the severity of it was bad. Horrible. Our hospital was not ready and the workers were overwhelmed, turning about fifteen units into COVID ICUs and the rest into regular COVID units. I feel lucky that I got critical care experience which had been useful in this pandemic. I feel sympathetic to the nurses who turned into ICU nurses overnight, titrating medications and dealing with ventilators for the first time. Every night there are code blues after code blues overhead, and there was not a night where nobody died. It's especially heartbreaking that visitations are restricted, so most of the patients die alone. We can't even properly mourn for the patient--we would shed a tear, say a prayer, but then we have to get back to work because there are still the living to tend to."

That comment about the hell of mid-March reminded me of an observation I had at the time.  On the hour I would be hearing sirens.  More than on the hour.  Several siren brays per hour.  How many fires could there possibly be, I asked myself?  And then I realized it wasn’t fire engines or police cars but ambulances.  Ambulances were in constant rush, and I realized that with each ambulance blare some poor soul was in a state of mortal crises.  Every time I heard a siren, I would stop and say a prayer for that soul.  I saw in the news at some point that at the height there were literally hundreds of ambulance calls per day.

That has been my experience when it comes for those infected. My personal experience has been significantly more pleasant.  At least my commute is simpler.  Instead of an hour each way, now it’s thirty seconds.  I roll out of bed and stroll to my study! 

Fortunately (or unfortunately) I have to report that I’m as efficient teleworking as I am physically in the office.  Conference calls can be a bit of a struggle with people talking over each other, but things get done.  The experience must be mirrored across the organization.  Maybe even the nation.  There is no rush to end the teleworking, and there has been a discussion on having cyclical teleworking groups, even after this is all over. 

I’ve read in the news that kids are either doing poorly or behind in their school work.  Not my son.  I can’t speak for the others in his class, but he has been doing super.  His grades are way up.  Matthew happens to be a very social and gregarious kid, so I think being away from his classmates reduces the distractions and makes him focus.  He has classes on Zoom and gets email assignments.  He submits through email and gets graded through email.  Thank God his school was on top of this.  They’ve done a great job.

Also, Matthew gets to see me work and interact on my conference calls.  I think watching a professional work environment conditions his behavior since so much of what kids do is emulative.  Plus he can take breaks and go out front and dribble his basketball in between the Zoom classes.  This has been a blessing in disguise when it comes to my son’s education.

Thank God all my conference calls have been over the phone.  I am not prepared for a visual conference.  When I had a real commute, I would shower and shave every morning.  Now I do it every few days and it’s not in the morning.  Plus I don’t get out of sweat clothes until after work either.  I’m not a sight to see.  And I can really use a haircut.  Please Lord, let the barbershops open soon.

I think my health has also improved from the lockdown.  Without that commute I get an extra hour of sleep and I take the dog for a forty-five minute walk before dinner.  I’ve actually lost a couple of pounds.  It might even be more than that since I think the hair on my head now must be adding a pound or two to my weight…lol.  How much does hair weigh anyway?

Being constantly home does get boring.  We haven’t been out for dinner the whole time.  Occasionally we order something in, but that’s been a way to give us a treat.  My wife and I try to beat each other for a reason to go out to the store.  Wearing mask and gloves of course.  One day she’ll call dibs and another day I’ll box her out and call first.  Anything to get a change of scenery.  I don’t know if that’s what God intended when He created marriage, but that’s what it has come down to.  "With this ring, I thee wed, in sickness and in health, in pandemic or in wealth, till corona do us part." 

The worst part of the lockdown I think has been not being able to go to church on Sunday.  We watch Mass on TV but it’s not the same.  Roman Catholics require the physical communion of the Blessed Sacrament.  You can’t get that over a screen.  Still, given the relative age of our parish congregation, I think it was the right thing to stop Mass.  The virus would have spread like wild fire throughout the parish. 

Has this all been worth it?  My experience would say yes.  People from other parts of the country tell me they don’t know of anyone who has come down with the virus, let alone someone who has died from it.  Here it’s quite different.  Everyone knows of someone, and everyone knows of a death.  Certainly with foreknown knowledge of everything we could have had a more optimized plan.  Some claim it is no different than the flu.  That’s was my opinion back in early March.  My opinion evolved dramatically.  We’ve more than exceeded the number of deaths of the worst flu season in less than three months, and while going through extreme preventative and lockdown procedures, and it’s not over yet.  My guess at looking at the different curves of transmission and fatality rates, I would estimate we would have had three to four times the mortality if we had done nothing.  Except for the horrendous decision to send virus infected patients to nursing homes, I feel the process was as best as could be expected given the level of knowledge we had.

That’s my New York experience.  I can understand how people in the open air states in the west see it differently.  But be aware, even in those western states when people in factories are placed in close proximity, the infection rates go up.  Enclosed space seems to be one of the leading variables.

Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave by Aphra Behn, Part 2

This is the second in a series on the novel, Oronooko or the Royal Slave  by Aphra Behn. 

You can find Part 1 here.  

So what to make of this strange story?  There are several themes that have been proposed for the novel.  Let me give my opinion of each.

Anti-Colonialism

Well, certainly there is colonialism.  The English and the Dutch fight over this New World territory, set up plantations, and administer a ruling government.  The slaves however that work the plantations are imported from Africa, and the natives for the most part seem to be left alone.  At the beginning of the novel Behn sets up what projects to be a much more prominent theme when she characterizes the natives as innocent in a prelapsarian way. 

They are extreme modest and bashful, very shy, and nice of being touched. And though they are all thus naked, if one lives for ever among them, there is not to be seen an indecent action, or glance; and being continually used to see one another so unadorned, so like our first parents before the Fall, it seems as if they had no wishes; there being nothing to heighten curiosity, but all you can see, you see at once, and every moment see; and where there is no novelty, there can be no curiosity. (75)

But then later when Oronooko accompanies a group into the heart of the country, there is great fear of the Indians.

About this time we were in many mortal fears, about some disputes the English had with the Indians, so that we could scarce trust ourselves, without great numbers, to go to any Indian towns, or place, where they abode, for fear they should fall upon us, as they did immediately after my coming away, and that it was in the possession of the Dutch, who used them not so civilly as the English, so that they cut in pieces all they could take, getting into houses, and hanging up the mother, and all her children about her, and cut a footman, I left behind me, all in joints, and nailed him to trees. (120)

I guess one could say the natives were provoked but it certainly not the docile and innocent humanity of pre-fallen world.  But the natives are at least sincere and perhaps serve as a contrast to the white Christians who lie and cheat repeatedly.  I can’t quite tell if the author intended the theme of anti-colonialism.  It just isn’t developed.  I think the natives serve as a contrast to the Europeans.

Contemporary Politics of Behn’s England

I think we can all agree that Behn supports the monarchy, and I’ll develop that theme further down, but is there an intraparty political dynamic going on in the novel?  The two major characters who are in the power structure of the territory, Governor William Byam and the King’s plantation manager, John Treffry, are both Royalist.  One is Oronooko’s biggest supporter and the other is Oronooko’s biggest nemesis.  The only white character in the power structure who is not a Royalist is George Marten, a brother to a Cromwell supporter, and, though not a fully developed character, seems to be sympathetic to Oronooko.  If there is any political implication from the tension between Byam and Trefrey, it is lost on me.  There isn’t any outright hostility, just diverging interest in Oronooko. 

International Dynamics between England and Dutch

There is an English/Dutch rivalry that is undercurrent in the novel, but I can’t discern any noticeable bias.  It probably reflects the historical circumstances of her time, but I don’t see a theme.  Perhaps the fact that she, an English woman, doesn’t favor England by default is a statement in itself, but I don’t sense an international rivalry between the nations as a theme.  Christian Europeans are depicted as liars and cheats and brutal slave owners in contrast to the Surinamese and the Africans, but I think both were and are mentioned in the novel as slave owners too.  While the English and Dutch are rivals in both African and South American colonialism, this rivalry isn’t a developed theme.

Anti-Slavery

Slavery is definitely a theme of the novel, and Behn doesn’t lend any support to this heinous practice.  I don’t know if she stands out on this issue for her day, but she is certainly valiant.  I assume slavery was a commonly held notion in her day, but she seems to go against that trend.  Now that is not to say there aren’t complexities that complicate the theme.  Oronooko and his countrymen enslave, hold slaves, and sell slaves.  Oronooko himself participates in the practice.  But when Oronooko is enslaved he reaches what I think is an enlightenment on the practice.  First in being enslaved, he feels the degradation of what the practice entails.

First it is quite extraordinary that Behn creates such a noble and gallant character in Oronooko in contrast to the scheming and treacherous whites.  And Behn does this twice in that she creates an almost equally noble female in Imoinda to complement Oronooko. 

[Oronooko] became, at the age of seventeen, one of the most expert captains, and bravest soldiers, that ever saw the field of Mars; so that he was adored as the wonder of all that world, and the darling of the soldiers. Besides, he was adorned with a native beauty so transcending all those of his gloomy race, that he struck an awe and reverence, even in those that knew not his quality; as he did in me, who beheld him with surprise and wonder,when afterwards he arrived in our world. (79)

There are some I think that characterize Oronooko as a “noble savage,” but frankly I think that is a mischaracterization.  A noble savage implies a certain innocence that has been preserved from civilized corruption.  I think Behn characterizes the natives of Surinam as noble savages, but the Africans of Coramantien have a functioning government with rivalries, courts, wars, hereditary monarchies.  In addition, Oronooko is educated in European culture.

’Twas then, afflicted as Oroonoko was, that he was proclaimed general in the old man’s place; and then it was, at the finishing of that war, which had continued for two years, that the prince came to court; where he had hardly been a month together, from the time of his fifth year to that of seventeen; and ’twas amazing to imagine where it was he learned so much humanity; or, to give his accomplishments a juster name, where ’twas he got that real greatness of soul, those refined notions of true honour, that absolute generosity, and that softness that was capable of the highest passions of love and gallantry, whose objects were almost continually fighting men, or those mangled, or dead; who heard no sounds, but those of war and groans. Some part of it we may attribute to the care of a Frenchman of wit and learning, who finding it turn to very good account to be a sort of royal tutor to this young Black, and perceiving him very ready, apt, and quick of apprehension, took a great pleasure to teach him morals, language and science, and was for it extremely beloved and valued by him. Another reason was, he loved, when he came from war, to see all the English gentlemen that traded thither; and did not only learn their language, but that of the Spaniards also, with whom he traded afterwards for slaves. (79)

This is not a noble savage but a man larger than life.  The narrator goes on to speak from her firsthand experience with him.

I have often seen and conversed with this great man, and been a witness to many of his mighty actions; and do assure my reader, the most illustrious courts could not have produced a braver man, both for greatness of courage and mind, a judgment more solid, a wit more quick, and a conversation more sweet and diverting. He knew almost as much as if he had read much: he had heard of, and admired the Romans; he had heard of the late Civil Wars in England, and the deplorable death of our great monarch, and would discourse of it with all the sense, and abhorrence of the injustice imaginable. He had an extreme good and graceful mien, and all the civility of a well-bred great man. He had nothing of barbarity in his nature, but in all points addressed himself as if his education had been in some European court. (80)

Second, while experiencing the life of a slave, Oronooko grows, so that freedom is seen as part of the nobility of every man.  Here is his impassioned speech to his fellow slaves to stir them to rebellion.

Caesar, having singled out these men from the women and children, made a harangue to them of the miseries, and ignominies of slavery; counting up all their toils and sufferings, under such loads, burdens, and drudgeries, as were fitter for beasts than men; senseless brutes, than human souls. He told them it was not for days, months, or years, but for eternity; there was no end to be of their misfortunes. They suffered not like men who might find a glory, and fortitude in oppression, but like dogs that loved the whip and bell, 61 and fawned the more they were beaten. That they had lost the divine quality of men (126)

Though Oronooko is no Christian, he frames this in Christian terms, telling them “they had lost the divine quality of men.”  And further, he characterizes the brutality of enslaving as that of savages. 

‘And why,’ said he, ‘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 honourable battle? And are we, by the chance of war, become their slaves? This would not anger a noble heart, this would not animate a soldier’s soul. No, but we are bought and sold like apes, or monkeys, to be the sport of women, fools and cowards, and the support of rogues, runagades, 62 that have abandoned their own countries, for raping, murders, thefts and villainies. Do you not hear every day how they upbraid each other with infamy of life, below the wildest savages, and shall we render obedience to such a degenerate race, who have no one human virtue left, to distinguish them from the vilest creatures? Will you, I say, suffer the lash from such hands?’ (126)

Behn has turned the convention on its head.  The African is the noble and grand character, while the Europeans are the degenerate savages.

Feminism

The feminism theme is not as pronounced as one would expect if it were a dominant theme.  On the one hand, none of the female characters have any power or even rebel against male authority.  Yes, Imoinda is cast as a powerful woman, but even she is below in stature to Oronooko, who she complements, and she never displays any will to break free from the men who dominate her life.  She acquiesces to become the African King’s concubine, though her wishes are clearly against it.  She is sold off as a slave when the King no longer has use for her, and accepts her death at Oronooko’s hand for fear to be left alive without his protection.  As powerful a woman as she is cast, we never see her power in either rebellion or to work her way out of a situation.  In the end, she is a minor character.

In what way then is there a feminist theme?  Two thoughts.  I think the respect Oronooko pays to Imoinda is an honest respect paid to a woman without objectifying her in her gender.  Here’s how Behn describes Oronooko’s courtship:

She was touched with what he said, and returned it all in such answers as went to his very heart, all in such answers as went to his very heart, with a pleasure unknown before. Nor did he use those obligations ill that love had done him; but turned all his happy moments to the best advantage; and as he knew no vice, his flame aimed at nothing but honour, if such a distinction may be made in love; and especially in that country, where men take to themselves as many as they can maintain; and where the only crime and sin with woman is to turn her off, to abandon her to want, shame and misery. Such ill morals are only practised in Christian countries, where they prefer the bare name of religion; and, without virtue or morality, think that’s sufficient. But Oroonoko was none of those professors; but as he had right notions of honour, so he made her such propositions as were not only and barely such; but, contrary to the custom of his country… (82-83)

He was not only honorable by the standards of his country, but superior to those of “Christian countries.”  This is certainly an understanding of a woman’s needs that only a female writer can conceptualize. 

Also in support of a feminist theme is the strong voice of the female narrator.  It is the narrator who is Oronooko’s equal as he provides intimate details of his life.  Here is how she speaks of a moment after such a private conversation:

Before I parted that day with him, I got, with much ado, a promise from him to rest yet a little longer with patience, and wait the coming of the Lord Governor, who was every day expected on our shore. He assured me he would, and this promise he desired me to know was given perfectly in complaisance to me, in whom he had an entire confidence. (115)

Notice the language: “I got…a promise from him,” “he assured me,” “this promise he desired me to know.”  Despite her being a woman, she is at least an equal in the relationship.  And it is only in her, a woman, Oronooko places his confidence, not any of the men, not even Trefry.  It is the female narrator who is Trefry’s superior in obtaining Oronooko’s trust, as he tells her of his life story. 

While women’s issues are not part of the thematic structure, certainly through the narrator’s voice and through Oronooko’s respect for the women he encounters and develops a relationship with, the novel shows great dignity for women.