Summer Reader’s Response
In a world entrenched in preconceptions, a man’s transformative will and imagination strikes a balance between constraint and hope while maintaining dignity and decency by staying practical yet not losing one’s faith in humanity. In the novella “Benito Cereno” by Herman Melville, a sailor, Delano, comes across a shipwreck with a crew on board. The crew is made up of slaves and a weak captain who is guided by one of his slaves. The captain, Cereno, begins to tell the tale of how he ended up in the middle of the ocean with little resources. Kindly enough, Delano offers his help and combines both of their crew members. Throughout the course of the novella, Delano witnesses Cereno full of self doubt and uncertainty, for he does not control his people and uses his slave …show more content…
Delano’s multiple theories in the course of the novel represent the world’s preconceptions and suggests that he is in the moral dilemma of whether he should choose to trust his new friends or not. As said in the passage, “There was something in the man so far beyond any mere unsociality or sourness previously evinced, that even the forbearing good-nature of his guest could no longer endure it” (Melville 42). Delano wants to have faith inside Cereno, but he is nervous that he is making a mistake causing him to analyze Cereno’s character with caution. With the use of the phrase “no longer endure it”, Melville is suggesting that despite how hard Cereno tries to make a good impression, there is no use because it is obvious something is uneasy about the situation. Delano balances constraint and hope while maintaining dignity and decency by thinking of ways to keep his people safe, and not over trusting the opposing people. By doing this, he is hopeful, yet practical and has good judgement. Contrastingly, in the excerpt, “Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, he renders that a man’s transformative will is always decent when it is not in
In a world entrenched in preconceptions, a man’s transformative will and imagination strikes a balance between constraint and hope while maintaining dignity and decency by staying practical yet not losing one’s faith in humanity. In the novella “Benito Cereno” by Herman Melville, a sailor, Delano, comes across a shipwreck with a crew on board. The crew is made up of slaves and a weak captain who is guided by one of his slaves. The captain, Cereno, begins to tell the tale of how he ended up in the middle of the ocean with little resources. Kindly enough, Delano offers his help and combines both of their crew members. Throughout the course of the novella, Delano witnesses Cereno full of self doubt and uncertainty, for he does not control his people and uses his slave …show more content…
Delano’s multiple theories in the course of the novel represent the world’s preconceptions and suggests that he is in the moral dilemma of whether he should choose to trust his new friends or not. As said in the passage, “There was something in the man so far beyond any mere unsociality or sourness previously evinced, that even the forbearing good-nature of his guest could no longer endure it” (Melville 42). Delano wants to have faith inside Cereno, but he is nervous that he is making a mistake causing him to analyze Cereno’s character with caution. With the use of the phrase “no longer endure it”, Melville is suggesting that despite how hard Cereno tries to make a good impression, there is no use because it is obvious something is uneasy about the situation. Delano balances constraint and hope while maintaining dignity and decency by thinking of ways to keep his people safe, and not over trusting the opposing people. By doing this, he is hopeful, yet practical and has good judgement. Contrastingly, in the excerpt, “Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, he renders that a man’s transformative will is always decent when it is not in