Enigmatic

I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Benito Cereno" and found it to be an enthralling and suspenseful novella. The contrast between "The Heroic Slave" and "Benito Cereno" is obvious to the reader, but remains an interesting subject because the former portrays the plight of slaves sympathetically, and the latter reverses their role and characterizes them as bloodthirsty barbarians. "Benito Cereno" was full of contrasts, in fact, and one of the most apparent disparities often occurred within Amasa Delano's own train of thought. His thoughts constantly wavered between feeling secure and safe on the decks of the San Dominick to feeling overwhelmingly outnumbered and uneasy. For example,

"Poor fellow, thought Captain Delano, so nervous he can't even bear the sight of barber's blood... is it credible that I should have imagined he meant to spill all my blood, who can't endure the sight of one little drop of his own?" (86)

"Why decline the invitation to visit the sealer that evening?... What imported all those day-long enigmas and contradictions, except they were intended to mystify, preliminary to some stealthy blow?" (94)

I believe that this story was written to be purposefully enigmatic, especially regarding Melville's view of slavery (does he condone it? does he condemn it?) , and all of the dichotomy throughout the novella-- such as the antithesis of the colors black, white, and red and Delano's vacillating opinions of his own security-- add to the obscurity of the plot. This novel, like in Pym, also has numerous disparities between appearance and reality, for instance-- the ship looked like it was boarded by monks in the beginning rather than slaves, the skeleton of Don Alexandro on the bow was shrouded to look like it was just in disrepair, and Atufl was disguised as a prisoner when he was really an integral part of the mutiny.

Overall I enjoyed it. Anyone else?

So far it is my favorite story we have read so far. The language was a challenge but after completing it I personally feel accomplished. Melville is known for dense writing, but I personally found Benito Cereno page-turning. And now that I have finished reading it I am looking back on events that I noted as a reader and have come to the conclusion that Captain Delano was the epitome of oblivion. Yes he may have noticed certain things such as the “affair of the Spanish lad assailed with a knife y the slave boy… [and] the trampling of the sailor by the two negroes” (p. 79) but he acknowledgments as the narrator at some times were not conclusive. He merely vacillated in his mind between whether he was in danger by being on the ship or if Don Benito was “as good a folk as any in Duxbury, Massachusetts.”(p. 80) Honestly, Cereno could barely stand the site of blood, let alone be able to murder someone. The constant interruptions of Babo kept the suspense because it seemed that every time Don Benito was asked a question, Babo would quickly remind of the “eye that was always watching”. The portrayal of the characters was well done I believe. Although I will admit that imagining Babo, a small slave, maneuvering and conniving around characters truly made him seem obsessed with his freedom.

This, unlike The Heroic Slave, portrayed the uprising on the ship in a different manner. I felt it was very different in terms of description and action. I thoroughly enjoyed this method. The overall structure of retelling the tale at the end of the story in terms of a written account left me feeling complete. Although a few questions remained, they were mostly because of phrasing Melville used and commas and asterisks. Probably one of my favorite parts in the book was on page 86 where Captain Delano comes so close to suspicion but ultimately “regards the notion as a whimsy, insensibly suggestion”. He seemed so sure based on the whispered conversations between Cereno and his servant but ultimately through the idea out the window. One critical point I will make is the lack of back bone Cereno had throughout the story. I commended his idea of a treaty, thus making an aggressive situation settle, but was a little surprised that such democracy could be reached with the barbarically portrayed slaves on the ship. The detail in murder then an olive branch of cooperation seemed suspicious and very passive; a characteristic much like Cereno. More likely of a character in Cereno’s position should have been one that Babo took; revolt and stealthy planning. It is interesting to see the role reversals in the story as slave became master and master became flexible to every whim of Babo’s dangerous “eye.” Overall I enjoyed the story and, while the language and punctuation made it dense, I found it suspenseful and exciting; a true dramatic adventure.

And one more note is that I found two lines that led me to Delano’s view on slavery, and possibly the view of the Narrator/Melville (I am not sure if they can be decided between). But, on page 84 it says how, “Captain Delano took to negroes…as other men took to dogs”. And on page 87 Delano’s thoughts are again described as “this slavery breeds ugly passions in a man”.

Benito Cereno was quite difficult to get through. Melville's writing is just so dense that I often found myself lost in his words...reading a couple pages and realizing I could not remember anything that actually happened. I felt like Melville's style took away more from the story rather than make the story work. I recognize his detail and ability to create scenes, but I mostly found it more confusing with all of the similes and extremely slow action.
I also found this work to be incredibly predictable. Not only was it predictable, there was a lack of build in suspense up to the point of finding out what was actually happening. I think there was intention to build suspense with the continuous change of trust and distrust Delano has for Cereno, but it was just too much flip-flop and so long, drawn out, wordy, and boring that instead of suspense, I was just annoyed. I feel like the idea of the story wasn't so bad, I just don't think it was executed well. I could barely keep interest and focus, so barely even cared to keep reading because I knew what was going to happen. I really was just impatient for it to be over.
I feel like we will discuss our opinions on Melville's stance in slavery in class, and I would like to say that I think Melville was a supporter of slavery, or at least tolerant. I think this because I felt that he projected to slaves of the ship as savage, violent, blood thirsty criminals and the white people as victims who were admirable because they were known to treat their slaves well. The slaves who revolted did the same thing that so many whites and so many slave catchers and owners did to slaves, and the slaves on the ship really just wanted to be returned to land where other black people lived. But Melville makes them seem violent and in the wrong.

Throughout “Benito Cereno” I found myself focusing on Melville’s use of characterization. He seemed to provide at least two opinions about every individual which, while somewhat confusing, allows the reader to form their own opinion of the main characters.
On the first page, Melville describes Delano’s “undistrustful good nature.” However, later on board the San Dominick he “felt an apprehensive twitch in the calves of his legs” which would imply that Delano wasn’t so distrusting after all. He was shown to be an “American in charity” and yet when Cereno jumped aboard his boat Delano tried to physically harm him.
Cereno’s characterization is even more disconnected than Delano’s. When the reader is first introduced to Cereno it is clear that something is off with him. He seems gloomy and mentally unstable. Delano wonders if this comes from “innocent lunacy or wicked imposture.” As the story progresses, one can feel Delano’s sense of uneasiness around Cereno. At one point Delano even thinks Cereno will kill him but Delano quickly excuses this apprehension away.
I think Melville’s constant questioning of a character’s personality traits and statements cause a reader to truly think about questions such as “Is Delano really as naïve as he seems? Is Cereno a bad guy or just really socially awkward?” By not giving a crystal clear depiction of either main character Melville heightens suspense. He also engages the reader and allows the reader to create a part of the story and characterization for themselves before details are revealed at the end of the story.

Melville's Dilemma and Kudos Jeff Morgan

"Benito Cereno" captures both the political and philosophical dispositions of Herman Melville in fictional characterizations and developments. In the piece, we are introduced not only to Melville's take on slavery, which he referred to as "The American National Sin", and its future, but also his insight on evil (as a metaphysical concept) and its humanistic subjectivity.

The assumption we've come to understand is that Melville was an abolitionist, which in a sense is true; however, the plot and dynamics of the piece suggest that perhaps, though sympathetic to the struggles of blacks, Melville was pessimistic about the abolishing of slavery. This is best illustrated by the demise of Babo, where although he led what seemed to be a successful attack on the slave master, he was at the end tragically put to death. In a sense, Melville tries to relay the message that no matter how positive the efforts to abolish slavery, it's deep roots in the national identity of America renders any attempts at justice useless.

This point also relates to Melville's position on evil, which he viewed as being a human institution incapable of being outrooted but one that transforms itself based on subjectivity. In Benito Cereno, we see this notion come into play. We are made to believe that the slave rebellion (an act which can be considered evil in some respect) would lead to the abolishing of the evil on the ship (which in this case is the holding of slaves) only to be met by another evil, the taking of a human life in the name of justice.

In fact, it is in this that similarities between this piece and Douglass's "The Heroic Slave" end. For in the "Herioc Slave", justice is valiantly achieved and evil trounced, not transformed according to Douglas. Also, Douglas has a more optimistic view towards the abolishing of slavery and develops his characters accordingly to reflect this notion.

I truly did enjoy reading "Benito Cereno" despite the awkward sentence structures and vocabularly. I also greatly enjoyed reading Jeff Morgan's response.

"Follow His Leader"

Having just finished the novel I have to say that the ending did not disappoint. It wasn't so much the surprise of the slave rebellion (which, lets face it, wasn't much of a surprise given that the title of our edition is "Two Slave Rebellions at Sea") rather the brilliance of the ending lay in Cereno's recounting of the experience and his reflections upon it to Delano.
While Benito Cereno is physically saved by Delano, it seems as if he never able to recover emotionally. I believe this stems from the fact that Cereno felt emasculated in all ways by the blacks on the ship and by Babo in particular. While Cereno regains his vigor briefly on the ship he remains unable to even look or speak about Babo. I believe that Babo's treatment of Cereno was meant to reflect the white treatment of slaves. Babo forces Cereno to take every action under ultimate fear of death. The white crew men are so petrified that even when a chance to possibly escape arises with Delano's boat, they are mostly passive. The narrator even confirms the idea of Cereno as Babo's slave when he speaks of Babo's intelligence, "As for the black - whose brain, not body, had schemed and led the revolt". By attributing intelligence to the slaves, the narrator is venturing outside of the accepted norms of his time, in which most slaves were considered stupid brutes.
Upon arriving once again on solid ground, Cereno is unable to shake the mental stigma of being dominated by a slave. His health deteriorates and ultimately he dies. Cereno's death is spoken of in the same passage as Babo's saying, "Benito Cereno, borne on the bier, did, indeed, follow his leader." This ending, while seemingly referring to Aranda, the slave master who was killed on the boat, could also be read as referring to Babo as Cereno's leader. It is this reading that I find the most convincing and might ultimately give us the slightest glimpse into Melville's own views of slavery.

the mystery of Babo

While Benito Cereno is an all around intriguing novel, there is one character in particular that stands out as puzzling to me, and that character is Babo. Babo is a strange mixture of assistant and worshipper that I cannot quite figure out. Why is he so loyal? What is he hiding? Why is he constantly making excuses for his master (and, on that note, why does he insist on calling him "master" every five seconds)??

I know in class we made a comparison to Gollum, but I have honestly never read the Lord of the Rings books or seen the movies, so I'm not sure if I agree or disagree with that. What I do think of when I think of Babo is the elves from Harry Potter. I am going to go ahead and quote Harry Potter here, but don't laugh because I think it honestly makes sense! Talking about the elf Kreacher, Dumbledore says, "His existence has been as miserable as your friend Dobby's. He was forced to do Sirius's bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him." I have not yet finished reading Benito Cereno, so I have no idea if Babo really does feel loyalty or not, but I do have a strong feeling that there is something else going on in that relationship. At one point, Babo positions himself to face his master solely because "he could the more readily anticipate his slightest want (p 89)." It is clear that Babo's every move, every sentence, and likely every thought revolves around Benito Cereno. I personally feel that both Babo and Benito Cereno are in on some sinister secret that perhaps the rest of the crew is unaware of...

I probably should have waited until after I finished reading the novel to write this post, but I thought it would be interesting to write down my speculations regarding Babo. While he is not a huge character, he is striking in his strange actions and presence. It will be interesting to see what his larger role in the novel is!