The decision to become a female author in the 17th and 18th centuries was a daunting task in itself, let alone the choice to narrate your work from a feminine and personal point of view. . This was the case of two famous texts read through a female narrative voice, Oroonoko and Northanger Abbey. Aphra Behn's Oroonoko tells the story of an African prince who is captured and forced into slavery in the British colony of Surinam in the West Indies, while Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey follows the life of its protagonist, Catherine, through his travels to Bath and Northanger. Abbey. Although their stories are unique, through a female narrative voice, both women are able to situate themselves in terms of how they would like their readers to see them. Behn and Austen's role as narrators is advantageous to both women in that it provides them with a degree of authority over their respective texts while eliminating any personal responsibility. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayBehn demonstrates authority by interrupting the text to express his own personal opinions, a strategy ultimately intended to control the reader's perception of her. Behn's first speech to her readers proves this to be true when she clarifies that Oroonoko is a story "without added invention", a story that is not written to "entertain [her] readers with the adventures of 'a pretended hero' (2137). . It may be noted that these statements were designed not only to display his authority, assuring his audience that the events were fact rather than fiction, but also to confer a degree of credibility, thereby ensuring that the reader was likely to relate to him. trust and think it reliable for the moment. duration of the story. Behn further interrupts the text to provide context as to why she was on the island of Surinam, explaining that her father was to be "lieutenant general of thirty-six islands, in addition to the mainland of Surinam", and upon his arrival in the country. , “the best house was presented to him” (3162). By informing readers of her father's social status and her own, she is able to show that she is part of the ruling and dominant force on the island, distinguishing her from the slaves and once again proving her authority over the island. 'history. Perhaps the most interesting way in which Behn displays his control is the continued use of phrases such as "I assure my reader" and "as I said" throughout the story (2140) . Although she remains mostly silent when recounting the part of Oroonoko's story for which she was not present, Behn nevertheless manages to remind the reader that she has complete control over the text by adding unnecessarily statements like those above. Through recognition of her social status and constant interjections of her personal opinions throughout the story, Behn controls how the reader perceives her, ultimately exposing her power over his work. Although Behn's authority over the text can still be read as faithful to the era in which she was writing, being a female author in the 17th century was still considered a very new and developing concept . It is clear that Behn struggles with her identity as a female author and this may be a reflection of this in her writing, as she blatantly undermines her own talent when speaking about Oroonoko's story by saying: " His misfortune was to come across a dark world, which offered only a feminine pen to celebrate his fame, but then contradicted himselfexplaining that few people could have told her story better than her (2158). In her informative journal, Gender and Narrative in the Fiction of Aphra Behn, Jacqueline Pearson explains that while authority and power are a central theme in Behn's work, "her ambiguous status as white (and therefore powerful) but also of woman (and therefore powerless) "almost compromises her authorial power because of her gender (187). In this way, we can see Behn conforming to the social boundaries of her gender that were true in her time while struggling to maintain a certain authority throughout the text By the contribution and interjection of personal opinions and the claim of a certain ownership over her characters, Austen demonstrates authority and remains in control of her story, Northanger Abbey. whether Austen initially speaks ill of her character, Catherine, she eventually gains a sense of belonging towards her when her behavior eventually becomes agreeable to Austen This can be noted when it appears that Austen is attributing herself. the merit of her new and improved protagonist when she says, "if society had only seen her three years before, they would have found her extremely beautiful by now" (47). Austen further displays her control over her character when she says, "I can send my heroine home to solitude and shame" (224) and "I can send my heroine back to the sofa without sleep" (107). Naming Catherine, “my heroine,” not only reminds the reader that Austen is the one in control, an authority that only the narrator can possess, but also shows Austen marking her territory by treating Catherine as a sort of possession. Another, if not quite as interesting, way in which Austen maintains control of the novel is by including her views on women reading novels – a subject of much debate at the time Northanger Abbey was written. Austen wholeheartedly defends her choice to have Catherine and Isabella read novels when she says, “Yes, novels; for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom so common among romance writers,” clearly refusing to be an author who presents his heroine as a mocker of novel reading (58). Austen's personal opinions serve to reinforce the ultimate authority she holds over her story. In contrast to his authoritative role, by completely removing himself from events in Oroonoko that readers may view as particularly problematic or disturbing, Behn is able to shed all personal responsibility, thereby placing the blame on others. The first event for which Behn takes an objective stance occurs after Oroonoko is brutally whipped as punishment for leading his fellow slaves in an attempt to escape. Although, as narrator, Behn is usually quick to inform the reader of her authoritative qualities, she is nowhere to be found at the moment when Oroonoko is whipped. Later explaining the reason for her absence, she explains that she was not there to protect Oroonoko because she had heard that he was coming "to slit their throats all" (2173). Behn even goes to Oroonoko to “protest against [his] innocence of the fact” and “[request] as many pardons from the guilty” (2173). When describing the event, Behn strategically uses the word "they" when talking about the offenders, making it clear to her readers that she was in no way involved or associated with the crime, thereby removing any responsibility from her. Oroonoko's death constitutes the second example in which we see Behn carefully absolving himself of responsibility by using third-person language. When he left, Behn said the people who held Oroonoko “made a promise to everyone that they would take as much care of [him] as possible.”,. 24, 2012.