I did enjoy the story of Benito Cereno, although I cannot say that I particularly enjoyed reading it. It was filled with complicated, confusing sentence structure and at many times did not make sense. After reading almost half of it once, I was forced to completely restart, as I figured out that I had no clue what was happening in the plot. It is easily understandable why we are going to read this story twice, as I am positive I missed a large number of details in this first reading. Also I do not like the style Melville used of somewhat summarizing large parts of the story in a confusing thought of Captain Delano.
Also something that added to my enjoyment was the including of the actual depositions at the end. This added more of a realistic air to it, as it explained the true intents of all people on board, particularly Babo. One thing I find hard to believe is the Captain Delano was not more suspicious and did not decide to leave the ship at an earlier state.
All negative points aside, this reading was more enjoyable, although obviously much more dense and complicated to read, than Frederick Douglass’s tale and by far a better story than Poe’s.
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I agree with you in that this text was certainly more enjoyable than the ones we've read thus far. Though Melville's writing was extremely dense at times, and often confusing, the plot development was really neat and the characters were clever. I also agree that at times I found myself having that feeling after I've read a whole section and don't have a clue as to what I just read; due to the complex nature of the text and not for my lack of attention! That really took away from my overall feelings towards this novella because I was constantly reading with extreme confusion! I, too, did not particularly enjoy Melville's use of the narrator's voice. I was often mixed up as to who the narrator actually was, Delano or someone else, and thought that it detracted alot from the text. Overall I enjoyed this one despite some minor difficulties!
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