The noble savage trope is an early form of assimilationist racial thinking.

Evidence

Behn framed Oroonoko as a heroic “noble savage,” superior to Europeans in his ignorance, in his innocence, in his harmlessness, and in his capacity for learning from Europeans. And in true assimilationist fashion, one of the characters insists, “A Negro can change colour; for I have seen ’em as frequently blush and look pale, and that as visibly as I ever saw in the most beautiful White.” — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 150

Categorization

• XREF: This is a prime early specimen of the assimilationist category the reader wants to master — the noble savage praises the racialized Other only by measuring them against European norms and asserting their capacity to become like Europeans.
• SEED: Angle for an essay: the noble savage is a literary ancestor of ‘model minority’ framing — positive stereotyping as a form of racism.