Deceit In Benito Cereno By Captain Amasa Delano

Benito Cereno, by Herman Melville, explores Captain Amasa Delano’s journey into what he thinks is helping another captain and his ship’s troubles. Melville does a good job of portraying his characters the way he wants them through many writing skills: diction with connotation, imagery, metaphors, etc. Each character demonstrates different aspects that cause readers to be challenged by guessing their progress through motives and relationships. However, that’s exactly what the author wants. This story is a fictional tale about a ship who has been taking over by the slaves on board, thus, forcing Benito Cereno to pretend to be their captain when Delano comes to help their uneasy ship.

Delano's first description of Babo compares him to a "shepherd's dog." (p. 41) Not only did Delano compare him to something that was not human, but the assertion that Babo was a "shepherd's dog" is important to understanding Delano's obsession with hierarchy and possession. Delano must understand everything in terms of its relationships and its place in his hierarchy. Delano describes the San Dominick as "a Spanish merchantman of the first class, carrying Negro slaves, amongst other valuable freight." His first reaction to the fact that there were blacks on the San Dominick was to classify the blacks as "valuable freight." He describes the black mothers as "Unsophisticated as leopardesses; loving as doves.." (p. 63) After Captain Delano discovers that the blacks have mutinied, they are no longer dogs but wolves: "Exhausted, the blacks now fought in despair.

Captain Delano is shown as a bit of dense character for his inability to see the truth of what happened on the San Dominick. When he meets Babo he is amused at how well he takes care of his master, Captain Cereno, he stays along side him linked by the arm. He even thinks to himself how great it is to have such slave that appears to be more of a friend or companion than a manservant ( Nixon 369). While aboard there are many things that Captain Delano sees which rise his suspicion, however he chooses to disregard or forget them as the story progresses. He sees a young slave boy hitting another young Spanish boy, to which he tells Captain Cereño hoping to get him to do something about the situation, but Captain Cereño dismisses the incident.(9, left column) In return Captain Delano also dismisses the incident and continues on with Captain Cereño. He gives all his trust to Captain Cereno, because to his belief and understanding

Throughout Benito Cereno the author Melville uses a dark tone. This quote is an extraordinary case of Melville's dim investigation of his characters' minds. We have Babo, who's

Early American Literature reflects many conflicting differences in the presentation of slavery during that time period. Through the two chosen texts, the reader is presented with two different perspectives of slavery; Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a look at a slave’s life through the eyes if a slave while Benito Cereno showcases the tale of a slave uprising from the viewpoint of the slave owner.. Benito Cereno’s work shows the stereotypical attitude towards African-American slaves and the immorality of that outlook according to Douglass’s narrative. Cereno portrays the typical white slave owner of his time, while Douglass’ narrative shows the thoughts of the slaves. The two stories together show that white Americans are oblivious to the ramifications and overall effects of slavery. These texts assist a moralistic purpose in trying to open up America’s eyes to the true nature of slavery by revealing it’s inhumanity and depicting the cruelty that was allowed.

A few pages in, the book shares the cringeworthy detail that on the side of the San Dominick “rudely painted or chalked, as in sailor freak, along the forward side of a sort of pedestal below the canvas, was the sentence, SEGUID VUESTRO JEFE (“follow your leader”)” (40), a three-word sentence that speaks volumes. Melville shared the detail very early on in the text in order to foreshadow and to parallel what the sentence signifies; follow your leader at first glance seems nothing out of the ordinary given that it is a ship transporting slaves, however the sentence mimicking a slave’s life given that both represent doom. The sentence implies as both advice and a threat. Written by slaves, the sentence warns their former captors that if they do not do as they are told they will end up dead, similarly to their former Captain Aranda (follow your leader Babo vs. follow your leader Aranda). Because Babo had never been in a position of power and always had to do everything, he became very knowledgeable in many aspects in contrary to those in power who were too busy commanding others what must be done. All three accounts that make up the narrative depict Babo as some type of

The works of Herman Melville and Frederick Douglass are both centered on the topic of slavery. Although both texts are similar in the sense that they focus directly on the theme of slavery, the functions of each work differ drastically. The differences in the works stem from both the style of the text, and the way that this style functions in accordance with the reader. Although Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno is drawn from an actual event, Melville embellishes and alters the event in the style of prose. The prose style used by Melville invites the reader to question the story while understanding that the majority of the work is fictional. The confusion of Captain Delano is brought onto the reader, and therefore engages the reader because of the limited point of view the story is told in. Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass tells of actual events that occurred using twentieth and twenty-first century plain style. This style of writing does not ask the reader to question what he is saying, but feel his emotions as they read the narrative. Although readers may understand both works to be stories about slavery written differently in terms of style, I argue that the way the texts are written sets up the readers interpretation of them. Melville and Douglass differ because Melville’s work invites the reader to think, whereas Douglass’s work invites the reader to feel.

In Benito Cereno, which was written by Melville in 1855, New England captain Amasa Delano comes

In the novella, Benito Cereno, Herman Melville demonstrates the conflicting issue of racism and how it has been a part of our society for centuries. In the novella, we go on an adventure with two captains of Spanish descent and an overpowering amount of African Americans slaves. Melville has captured the importance of the slave trade and the risks that have been taken over time by African Americans trying to earn some justice within their lives. As a reader, we are shown the heart wrenching experiences a slave trader and an African American must endure over the bloody trading seas. Melville creates a clear picture that Americans over history were not always the heroes. This novella, shows the morality of our American history and how race has created such a strong role within our culture.

He argues that Melville wrote a moral tale, not an abolitionist story. At the end of the essay, Schiffman contradicts himself by proclaiming that Babo's head being "unabashed" as Benito Cereno, the slave trader, "follow[s] his leader" is an indictment of slavery.

Melville's writing, “Benito Cereno” creates a compelling mystery that delves into the ambiguities of good and evil. Melville's skillful use of irony and the symbolic imagery of nature describes a historical account of a failed slave uprising onboard a Spanish ship and emphasizes the role of the rebellion’s leader. The captain of the mutinied ship, Benito Cereno, appears as a caricature of himself, an amalgamation of the Spanish stereotypes Amasa, Delano embraces. By emphasizing the artifice of blackness and the theatrical aspects of the slaves’ rebellion helps to stress the performative nature of race. Melville’s Benito Cereno subverts and critiques nineteenth-century racial discourse.

The Line “By his side stood a black of small stature, in whose rude face, as occasionally, like a shepherd’s dog, he mutely turned it up into” exemplifies the web of deceit the greatest in the novella. This line leads the reader into thinking that Babo is the subordinate because of his “small stature” and “rude

The ignorance of Captain Delano in Benito Cereno can be accredited to his racist convictions that guide his perception of the ship’s perilous situation. However, is Delano at fault for his racism? When rethinking the racism in Benito Cereno under the context of Althusser’s theories on ideology, racism is an ideology forcibly implemented on the subject through the social institution of slavery. Delano’s actions and thoughts throughout Benito Cereno prove that his racism is a result of a socially imposed ideology and challenge the modern ideals of racism that place the blame for racist attitudes entirely on the racist subject. Delano is the subject of a racist ideology and has been forced into that ideology through the social apparatus of slavery

In Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago demonstrates the traits of the code hero. The Hemingway’s code hero covers the principal ideals of honor, courage, and endurance in a misfortune life. Throughout the novel, Santiago shows a contrast between opposite attitudes and values which associate his behavior with the guidelines of the code. In this case, the depiction of conflicting values, such as dignity despite humility, perseverance despite despair, and victory despite defeat are aspects that help to describe and understand the role of Santiago in the novel, and reflect the reason why this character is perfectly suited to the heroic conduct established by Hemingway.

Herman Melville, in his renowned novel Moby-Dick, presents the tale of the determined and insanely stubborn Captain Ahab as he leads his crew, the men of the Pequod, in revenge against the white whale. A crew mixed in age and origin, and a young, logical narrator named Ishmael sail with Ahab. Cut off from the rest of society, Ahab attempts to make justice for his personal loss of a leg to Moby Dick on a previous voyage, and fights against the injustice he perceived in the overwhelming forces that surround him. Melville uses a series of gams, social interactions or simple exchanges of information between whaling ships at sea, in order to more clearly present man’s situation as he faces an existence whose meaning he cannot fully grasp.