Don Benito Cerreno Analysis

Don Benito Cereno and his ship, the San Dominick, receive a disturbing introduction in Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno. When Captain Amasa Delano recognizes that San Dominick is a ship in distress, he sets his mind to aid the captain and crew. However, aboard the ship, he fails to see that the lack of provisions is not the cause of the ship’s and Don Cereno’s troubles. On the San Dominick, Captain Delano recognizes that there is a constant change in sound. Although Delano recognizes that the level of noise is an indicator of peace or unrest, he fails to attribute this small issue to a larger one aboard the ship. When Captain Delano boards the San Dominick, he is overwhelmed by a multitude of voices that signal disorder. As he made his way onto the dock he was surrounded by the white crew members and the Africans who “in one language, and as with one voice, all poured out a common tale of suffering” (Melville 39). Although they all sought to …show more content…
After he notices a lack of superior officers on the ship, he turns his attention to the old oakum-pickers. He recognizes that they “act the part of monitorial constables to their countrymen, the blacks; but…they could do little or nothing toward establishing general quiet” (Melville 43). In this observation, Delano recognizes that quiet aboard the ship is a result of established order. However, structure only exists among the Africans. Although Delano does not address the lack of order between the Africans and the white crewmen as being an issue, Melville invites the reader to see that this is still problematic. With the oakum-pickers, the Africans are silent as they are brought under control. However, when the white men and the enslaved Africans are together, noise and unrest arise. The sound that is produce when these two groups come together as one illustrates a lack of order and control on the San Dominick and its