I must say that getting a late start on the book and having to read the book at a much faster pace than everyone else put me at a disadvantage to finding out the plot twist at the end of the story. I must admit, for myself the dialog between Captain Delano and Don Benito was at some spots very confusing for me with the elaborate descriptions at times.
Looking back on the story, I realize that there were several points where there was significant foreshadowing to who were truly in control of the ship. The point where the slaves were looking at Captain Delano as so they wanted to murder him should have been a dead give away but I dismissed it as I continued reading. Another was the fact that Benito did not want to tell the story of how the ship got to St. Maria. It truly did not occur to me that the slaves were in control of the ship until Benito was thrown off.
This was a descent story that was cleverly crafted by Melville with great imagery and a great concept for presenting a story. I truly like the story and look forward to rereading it again.
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I agree with you on the point of the foreshadowing about who was really in control. I also think that this should have been the last straw for Delano. Considering he was so concerned with propriety and proper etiquette, the obvious disrespect on the part of the slaves should have caused more concern than it seemed to do. Although he did question Cereno on it, he was easily pacified with half-cocked answers from Cereno. I think that in order to be a full-fledged hero in this story, Delano would have had to have taken action at an earily point than he did. Because Delano was so late to pick up on and respond to the mutiny on the ship, I don't think I can actually give him much credit as being a hero. Wouldn't almost everyone do what he did in his position at the end, when it was fairly obvious that Babo and the other slaves were murderous? Since Delano did not show much initiative early on in the story (when it would have been more extraordinary and impressive), I don't think he is a strong example of the "American" hero.
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