Aphra Bhen uses the literary element of setting to give us a sense of not just where we are but how the people in their settings correlate. This can be seen in the quote, “With these people, as I said, we live in perfect tranquillity and good understanding, as it behoves us to do; they knowing all the places where to seek the best food of the country, and the means of getting it; and for very small and unvaluable trifles, supply us with that ’tis impossible for us to get: for they do not only in the woods, and over the savannahs, in hunting, supply the parts of hounds, by swiftly scouring through those almost impassable places, and by the mere activity of their feet run down the nimblest deer and other eatable beasts; but in the water, one would think they were gods of the rivers, or fellow-citizens of the deep; so rare an art they have in swimming, diving, and almost living in water; by which they command the less swift inhabitants of the floods.” This is important because we see that the type of setting that their in is very desert like but also how this brings clarity to the reader in which the people in this setting survive off the setting and value this setting to a certain degree which gives a clear perspective to their way of life and the disconnect to the lives of the non natives that aphra bhens narrator and other colonists are.
While this could be confused with setting, in reality aphra bhen is using the literary element of point of view to give a perspective on the traditions of this said culture. This is stated as, “They have plurality of wives; which, when they grow old, serve those that succeed ’em, who are young, but with a servitude easy and respected; and unless they take slaves in war, they have no other attendants.” The literary element use of point of view is important because just like the use of setting, it gives a clear distinction of not just what the narrator finds surprising about the customs of this new culture but also because of the simple fact that what they find surprising speaks volumes of what the narrator’s own culture is like and how distinctly different their cultures are.
It is important how aphra behn uses the literary element of character to create an image of someone that through the lens of the value of a different culture, to seem very extravagant and over the type which could still seem somehow appealing to the audience in which she is attempting to reach by stating, “The King of Coramantien was himself a man of an hundred and odd years old, and had no son, though he had many beautiful black wives: for most certainly there are beauties that can charm of that color.” Seeing that this is a man that lived far longer than the expected age of that time as well as having a far more polygamist relationship compared to the narrators monogamist counterpart brings a sense of extravagance that the culture and lifestyle of the colonists potentially did not live by or have as often.
The literary technique used by aphra bhen in this piece is figure of speech in which she relays the difference in social standing and bravery. Aphra states, “He replied, he would not give himself the trouble- but wished ’em to choose the bravest man amongst ’em, let his quality or birth be what it would: “for, O my friends!” said he, “it is not titles make men brave or good; or birth that bestows courage and generosity, or makes the owner happy.” This is important because the figure of speech is expressing that titles do not dictate how brave or courageous a person is, rather than the actions taken by the person is what makes them so. Which is important because the colonists within the story view it as title means everything especially their titles as masters over other humans.
The literary technique of narration is heavily important throughout this novel because not just was it written by a woman but the author herself uses the narrator as a woman to not just express how she was in the forefront of the situation but using a voice that at the current time frame would not have normally have been heard or payed attention to. Aphra states,”This Jamoan afterwards became very dear to him, being a man very gallant, and of excellent graces, and fine parts; so that he never put him amongst the rank of captives, as they used to do, without distinction, for the common sale, or market, but kept him in his own court, where he retained nothing of the prisoner but the name, and returned no more into his own country; so great an affection he took for Oroonoko, and by a thousand tales and adventures of love and gallantry flattered his disease of melancholy and languishment: which I have often heard him say, had certainly killed him but for the conversation of this prince and Aboan, and the French governor he had from his childhood, of whom I have spoken before, and who was a man of admirable wit, great ingenuity, and learning; all which he had infused into his young pupil.” This is important because this i the narrator stating just how excellent the graces where, or how the melancholy and languishment of the specific moment was. The fact that she was there to describe that someone was a gallant in a way gives a far more impreshionable feelings to the reader compared to if it where said by a man in which it could be taken or seen or comprehended in any other way.

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