The narrator reports that the British cannot enslave the people because of their vast numbers instead, to work the land, the colony has to import African labor. It is written in a mixture of first and third person narration, and it does not flow strictly in a chronological manner but begins with the narrator's first-person account of Surinam as a British colony and with a description of its native people. Oroonoko evidently is drawn from Behn's (likely) experiences as a young woman living in Surinam. Behn began writing narrative fiction instead of plays around 1682, when her reputation suffered after she was arrested for writing against the Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son, who claimed the throne. Scholars also cannot determine with certainty whether the narrator of Oroonoko is intended to represent Aphra Behn and whether the narrative is intended to be telling the truth. In any case, Behn receives credit for influencing the development of the British novel at or near its origins. The honor often has gone to Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) Defoe is often referred to as 'the father of the novel.' Other scholars insist that Oroonoko should have the honor in that it was written in a novelistic form and is not too short to be disqualified. Scholars have debated which work should count as the first novel in English.

It developed the figure of the noble savage that was later to be made famous by the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It also influenced the development of the English novel, developing the female narrative voice and treating anti-colonial and abolitionist themes. Oroonoko: or the Royal Slave remains important. Although it was not popular duing Behn's lifetime, today Oroonoko (1688) is Aphra Behn's most widely read and most highly regarded work.

Oroonoko novel