Nervous Nelly

In my second reading of Benito Cereno, what I found the most interesting was that Melville causes Delano to be calm and happy-go-lucky, when he is not near Benito Cereno and Babo. Thus the mere presence of the two makes Delano uneasy and paranoid.
For example on page 63, Benito and Babo have just returned back to Delano and immediately he feels “an apprehensive twitch.” Then again on 68, as Benito and Delano are speaking, Benito moves away from Delano for a second, just glancing away and Delano, who had been working himself into a frenzy of worries, suddenly finds that his fears have disappeared “in one throng, like a hoar frost.”
Another incident on page 70, just after Don Benito has questioned Delano about the men on his ship, shows that Delano becomes nervous and worried with “ some ugly misgivings” in the presence of Cereno and Babo, but once they moves away from Delano he begins to “laugh at his former forebodings; and laugh at the strange ship” (Melville, 71). There are multiple other incidents also where Delano flips from being nervous with, and just after he is with, Cereno to being his trustful, goodhearted self. I just found it interesting, especially due to our “Is Babo Evil” debate, that Delano always feels nervous around Benito (who is always accompanied by Babo) – raising the question of who is causing the uneasy feelings? Are they both evil? Is it their tension that is being picked up on? Or is it just a device by Melville to create apprehension in the reader. I suppose I just want to know what people think versus drawing conclusions. However, I feel that through these nervous feelings of Delano, we as the reader are sharply aware of the anxiety present in Benito and Babo’s relationship.