Herman Melville's Benito Cereno

Yesteryear, Mrs. Nylander, as a final act of her instruction, allowed us to take all the books from her room.  Classic Carol.  I was in the last class so I got to scour the leftovers and went home with a few books, one of which was a collection of Herman Melville novels.
1. Captain Amasa Delano and his ship meet another ship seemingly captained by a Spanish-Chilean, Don Benito Cereno (FYI his name is Benito, not Don which is a respectful title).  On Cereno's ship, are also many Africans destined to be slaves.  Delano notices that all social interaction on the ship is awkward, notably between the captain and his Black servant, Babo.  Additionally, we see the figurehead is covered by a tarp and written beside it is "Sequid Vuestro Jefe" which means follow your leader. Foreshadowing much?.  Anyway, after a while, we see a relationship between Babo and Cereno that is unlike that of a slave and his master.  This one is more like a companionship.  At the end, we find out that all the awkward could be chalked up to the fact that the slaves had revolted on the ship and killed their master, tying him to the figurehead.  Now, they had taken control and commanded Cereno to sail them back to Africa.  Babo is the ringleader which explains why he always kept close to Cereno.  He is put to death like many unwieldy slaves of the day and oddly enough, Cereno, clearly a sufferer of compromised mental health and Stockholm syndrome, dies soon after.  That's that.
2. The theme of the book was definitely to question the truth.  Delano, a seemingly salty sea-dog whose judgment most people would never question didn't get that there was a mutiny going on right in front of his eyes.
3.Considering Herman Melville lived in the era of slavery and its abolition this may have been a warning to keep a better eye on what's going on farealz.  Additionally, the writing took plenty of liberty with its description of the slaves as inhuman.

• "This is an uncommonly intelligent fellow of yours, Don Benito, " whispered Captain Delano across the table."
• "But tell me, has he so far as you have known him, always proved a good, worthy fellow?"
• " 'Because they have no memory,' he dejectedly replied; 'because they are not human."

4. Literary Elements of Benito Cereno

• " Rudely painted or chalked, as in a sailor freak, along the forward sentence, ' Sequid vuestro jefe.'" This was probably the most outright presentation of foreshadowing.  On a boat full of slaves and a master, it's clear who the jefe is. The fact that it was poorly written leads one to believe that it was an afterthought.
• "Yes, this is a strange craft, a strange history, too, and strange folks on board.  But- nothing more." Blatant irony is strong in this statement.  The audience is yelling at Delano, voice of this statement, that something is indeed going on here, but he's like the drunk guy in a scary movie, oblivious.
• " Don Benito faltered; then, like some somnambulist suddenly interfered with, vacantly stared at his visitor and ended by looking down on the deck."  This simile explains the state of Cereno's mind.  It's clear by now that he isn't all there but Delano brushes it off.
• " His last glance seemed to express a calamitous, yet acquiescent farewell to Captain Delano forever." During the monologue that this quote comes from, it is reflected upon that Benito Cereno is acting strange and it is becoming clear that there may be an ulterior reason for it.
• I won't be providing another textual example for the motif of preconceived notion that is the savage.  The best quote is the one I used to answer question 3.  The savage is the idea that the slaves are typically unintelligent and cowardly.  This is all very dehumanizing so it is easy to see how Delano could come to the conclusion that the slaves are idle.
• "These tops hung overhead like three ruinous aviaries, in one of which was seen perched, on a ratlin, a white noddy, a strange fowl, so called from its lethargic, sonambulistic character." This one is definitely symbolism for Don Benito.  He is like a zombie of captivity by Babo.
• " Ere long it seemed hard to decide whether she meant to come in or no--what she wanted, or what she was about."  The personification of Cereno's ship went beyond calling it her to giving it wants and desires with their own levels of ambiguity to match those of the actions that were occuring aboard her.
• " Battered and mouldy, the castellated forecastle seemed some ancient turret, long ago taken by assault, and then left to decay."  This imagery is heavy in the very beginning of the book, likely to emphasize the condition of the boat and describe its fort-like traits which lends itself to hosting a siege.  Additionally, this provides a good transition into describing the figurehead.
• " The noisy confusion of the San Dominick's suffering host repeatedly challenged his eye. " This quote is pretty moody.  Seriously, you get the feeling of how awkward the whole situation is.  If you've seen the scene in Hancock where he rescues the liquor store owner from the thieves, this is what it's like, only Delano isn't a bamf with superpowers.

Characterization

1. Direct characterization

• "Captain Delano's surprise might have been deepened into some uneasiness had he not been a person of a singularly undistrustful good nature, not liable, except on extraordinary and repeated incentives."
• " But the debility, constitutional or induced by hardships, bodily and mental, of the Spanish captain was too obvious to be overlooked.

    Melville's use of direct characterization was not entirely necessary even though it came more often than most authors would use it.  That is because he also was good at intertwining indirect characterization with the plot.  

     Indirect characterization

• "While Captain Delano was thus made the mark of all eager tongues, his one eager glance took in all faces, with every other object about him."
• " What! have you saved my life, Señor, and are you now going to throw away you own?" 

     Melville uses the reactions of others to characterize Delano as a man who looks worthy of respect and gossip.  Unfortunately for Delano, my opinion of him relied mostly on his lack of understanding in regards to the mutiny.  Were I to consider the characterization alone I would have thought him an admirable seaman.

3. Captain Delano is certainly dynamic.  He is, by the end of the novella, much more apprehensive in his consideration of things.  I suppose that means he is less happy-go-lucky than he had been when there was nothing in his mind to suspect.  What a boring book.

4. " Some months after, dragged to the gibbet at the tail of a mule, the black met his voiceless end."  This quote applies to the death of Babo.  He and Captain Benito Cereno are the ones I felt I had met, however passingly.  They were certainly not the most intriguing characters and Delano was even less.