Benito Cereno

human’s skin color does not define the traits that they exude. The construct of ‘blackness’ is a result of this tendency, leading to a societally instilled assumption of what people of African descent are, and what they are not. In his novella Benito Cereno, Herman Melville utilizes the character Babo to grant the reader an opportunity to reflect on the perceptions of ‘blackness’ and…

contagious? Herman Melville’s novella, Benito Cereno, explores this concept through a misconstrued series of gestures and remarks between Amasa Delano, an American sailor, and Benito Cereno, a Spanish captain, who encounters the sailor after leading a disastrous journey upon his slave ship. Melville’s carefully constructed prose illuminates the possibility of such a theory. The following passage is taken from the moment after Captain Delano admires Benito Cereno’s power over his slaves, and…

Melville’s Benito Cereno is a political satire about black slavery. Even though it was a comedic satire, it also provoked notions about blacks and how they are not much different from their captors. This was especially powerful because it was published during the time of the civil war. Captain Delano speaks to Benito Cereno towards the end of the story: “‘You are saved,’ cried Captain Delano, more and more astonished and pained; ‘you are saved; what has cast such a shadow upon you?’” Benito…

Considering white supremacy shaped society in American 19th century, texts like Herman Melville's Benito Cereno and Frederick Douglass’ The Heroic Slave reveal that white individuals rely on performance to interact with others, and thus, blacks are also forced into performing specific roles. The traditional white role, as seen in the two texts, is to uphold the superiority of the white race by uniting against the black one. Contrastingly, the black race is expected to play the part of a dutiful…

In Benito Cereno, there is a prevalent focus on social institutions that consists of multiple layers: Delano’s perception and the reality of the situation. At face value, Delano observes the tableau status quo that Babo crafted to deceive him. However, behind this elaborate play lies the true state of the ship’s hierarchy: a ship of scheming, rebellious African Americans with Babo at the forefront as the mastermind. It’s made apparent multiple times that there is more to the social status of…

Benito Cereno, One of Herman Melville’s most enduring and intriguing works was published in Putnam's Monthly in October, November and December 1855. This work is concerned with realities and appearance. Herman Melville is an American author, who best known for his work Moby-Dick. His work was a response to the Romantic Movement that dominated American literature in the mid- 19th century. Melville was born in New York City in 1819 and died in 1891; His family background included Revolutionary War…

There are many parallels that I noticed between Benito Cereno and Heart of Darkness. One of the main things that I noticed was that they both have a lethargic feel to them. Heart of Darkness starts off with a couple people on a calm body of water. In the same way, Benito Cereno begins with a ship that is floating on a body of water that has swells, but is very smooth. I think that this imagery has an inherent “sleepy” feeling to it. It makes the book hard to read for me and maybe there is…

Delano’s confident, arrogant and absolutely insulting demeanor and perception of slaves being too stupid to be able to formulate a revolt ultimately saves him and Benito Cereno. If Delano is not so unaware of the events encircling him and exhibits a little more suspicion, Babo would certainly have him executed. This confidence that conveys a typical American characteristic is also part of Captain Delano’s. This confidence created a barrier that prevented him from once again seeing the truth in…

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…

Benito Mussolini was a clever man. Prior to 1922, he used the post war crisis to his advantage. He provided the illusion that fascism was the way forward and a way to eradicate the country of socialism . The people of Italy saw it as a means to end the economic, social and political turmoil they were facing . The political ideology and mass movement of fascism dominated Italy. It included extreme militaristic nationalism, political and cultural liberalism. They stood for social unity and…