Benito Cereno Analysis

Due to his experiences a sailor, Melville commonly wrote his stories based on life at sea. His common theme of the sea attracted many literate people of the Renaissance. However, Melville´s common theme of life at sea is not the only factor which contributed to his style of writing. Herman Melville used many different rhetorical strategies to emphasize significance in many of his pieces. The use of similes, metaphors, and imagery supply Melville´s stories with various ways to describe certain characters or things. Alliteration, repetition, and onomatopoeia all come together to create specific effects on words and phrases in Melville´s works. The way Melville used parallel structure, malapropisms, and long, drawn out sentences reveals the variety of ways he has structured certain stories throughout his career. The rhetorical strategies used by Herman Melville are what made him the great Renaissance writer he was.

Equiano’s rhetorical devices which include ethos, pathos, and logos abet to define and accomplish his rhetorical purpose. His ethos, or ethical assurance, is conveyed in his level of education portrayed by his sentence structure and high diction. Furthermore, as proven in historical documents, Equiano was a slave aboard one of the many slave ships. With this, the reader can accredit Equiano’s narrative to be a reliable and first-hand source to the journey of the “Middle Passage.”

Although there were many hints that Melville was spinning a web of deceit in the novella, the quote that best captures the most crucial clue in the text is Captain Delano witnessing Babo attempting to stab Benito Cereno: “Glancing down at his feet, Captain Delano saw the freed hand of the servant aiming with a second dagger—a small one, before concealed in his wool—with this he

In the novella, Benito Cereno, Herman Melville demonstrates the conflicting issue of racism and how it has been a part of our society for centuries. In the novella, we go on an adventure with two captains of Spanish descent and an overpowering amount of African Americans slaves. Melville has captured the importance of the slave trade and the risks that have been taken over time by African Americans trying to earn some justice within their lives. As a reader, we are shown the heart wrenching experiences a slave trader and an African American must endure over the bloody trading seas. Melville creates a clear picture that Americans over history were not always the heroes. This novella, shows the morality of our American history and how race has created such a strong role within our culture.

Benitoite is a very unique mineral that has a beautiful appearance. It is classified as metamorphic rock which means it had to go under the metamorphic process to get into the form its in. Since this is rare mineral there are not very many places on earth where Benitoite is found. As of right now, California is the only place where it is found. It is the state gem of California because I believe its rarity is a special symbol to the state. In order to find this gem, a person would have to go to the Benitoite Gem Mine, in San Benito County, California.

Towards the end of the chapter, Equiano describes what it was like on the voyage across the Atlantic, as he recalls, “They put us in separate parcels, and examined us attentively … when soon after we were all put down under the deck again, there was much dread and trembling among us, and nothing but bitter cries to be heard all the night from these apprehensions” (Equiano 1789). Through this description, Equiano shows how he and the people around him were not treated as humans, but as cargo. He shows how, in order for someone to turn a profit, people were taken from their homes and eventually thrown into the lower decks of ships to be sent off to the Atlantic World. Through these descriptions, Equiano seems to be attempting to highlight the inhumane conditions that he and many others were subjected to; and the unjust nature of the trading of people as

The perspective the narrator uses is quite tricky as we witness events through Delano’s naïve eyes - who I might add is not entirely reliable due to his racist and paranoiac suspicion of Spanish conspiracy. Yet, when faced with the position of seeing it through Melville’s eyes, we are still unable to obtain an objective narrator of who is entirely distinguished from Delano. The narrator often seeks to humorously make a joke of Delano when not depicting the story through his own eyes, because of this, the meaning tends to change dramatically in the second reading since the audience now knows Babo is in control. This shifts the readers mindset as we perceive Delano treated more ironically. When analyzing the story once more, one notices the efficacy of Babo’s performance as Cereno’s servant as Delano even comes to admire him on several occasions for his so called “loyalty”. Every time Delano reels and falls into Babo's embrace, we assume it the embrace of death as Babo continuously hovers over Cereno like Death himself, threatening to take his life should he make one wrong

In Melville’s “Benito Cereno,” Captain Delano’s perspective of the happenings on the San Dominick ship is skewed through the deceptive actions of Babo and his captive Don Benito. Delano’s belief that every human being is inherently innocent and honest causes him to misread the situation and leaves him unaware of the impending danger that he and Don Benito are in. Filled “…with a qualmish sort of emotion,” rather than investigating or confronting Don Benito when faced with compromising, unsettling facts, Delano chooses to continue his stay on the ship “…as one feeling incipient sea-sickness, he [strives], by ignoring the symptoms…” (Melville 64). It is this quality of Delano’s, choosing to ignore what is a blatant issue and opting to believe that everyone is a decent person at heart, which ultimately causes this veil to cloud the reality of the situation to him. Though his suspicions that

Every level of authority comes with restrictions; the higher the level the less restrictions. Less restrictions equivalating to more freedom when deciding what is right or wrong. Unlike those with little power who are taught right from wrong usually through punishment. The perception of one in power will mirror indifference given that with power comes privilege to be indifferent to the problems of those below you. Contrastingly, those who have struggled due to their lack of societal value having known what struggle is will empathize with those around him. Herman Melville’s novella “Benito Cereno” explores the complex correlation between morality and power. Cereno giving three different accounts of the same event

Delano's first description of Babo compares him to a "shepherd's dog." (p. 41) Not only did Delano compare him to something that was not human, but the assertion that Babo was a "shepherd's dog" is important to understanding Delano's obsession with hierarchy and possession. Delano must understand everything in terms of its relationships and its place in his hierarchy. Delano describes the San Dominick as "a Spanish merchantman of the first class, carrying Negro slaves, amongst other valuable freight." His first reaction to the fact that there were blacks on the San Dominick was to classify the blacks as "valuable freight." He describes the black mothers as "Unsophisticated as leopardesses; loving as doves.." (p. 63) After Captain Delano discovers that the blacks have mutinied, they are no longer dogs but wolves: "Exhausted, the blacks now fought in despair.

Benito Cereno by Herman Melville, the reader is left with a crucial question : was the ruthless murder of the crew of the San Dominick justified? There are many factors leading into the conclusion a reader may make. Were the slaves poorly treated? Was Babo merely a cold blooded killer? I believe that although the murder of the crew was particularly brutal, the uprising was justified as the slaves merely wanted to go home.

The reason I chose this passage is because the author, Herman Melville provides us an extensive amount of information about Benito Cereno, which helped me to picture how Cereno appears. Since Melville finally mentions about Cereno after 10 pages, I was interested in knowing how his name could become the title and how important he is. Melville uses fancier and more complicated words to make the passages sound literary instead of using simpler words. However, it makes me feel curious about Cereno more and more while reading. Even though he appears to be a master and a captain of the San Dominic, he doesn’t seem to have authority or any confidence on the ship.

“Benito Cereno” is a work that exceedingly depicts how ideological self-delusion of an American character is one of the most dangerous capacities of mankind. Captain Delano a Yankee from “Duxbury Massachusetts” exemplifies these two American cultures of concerning nature and confidence. As Americans we have concerned and helped other less fortunate (i.e. the amount we donate to help third world countries), we are also confident and fearless in nature that we can accomplish anything (i.e. American dream). These traditional American characteristics I believe forms the American arrogance that we are stereotyped to have. We maybe helping others we have no business helping. Just

He argues that Melville wrote a moral tale, not an abolitionist story. At the end of the essay, Schiffman contradicts himself by proclaiming that Babo's head being "unabashed" as Benito Cereno, the slave trader, "follow[s] his leader" is an indictment of slavery.

When a writer picks up their pen and paper, begins one of the most personal and cathartic experiences in their lives, and forms this creation, this seemingly incoherent sets of words and phrases that, read without any critical thinking, any form of analysis or reflexion, can be easily misconstrued as worthless or empty. When one reads an author’s work, in any shape or form, what floats off of the ink of the paper and implants itself in our minds is the author’s personality, their style. Reading any of the greats, many would be able to spot the minute details that separates each author from another; whether it be their use of dialogue, their complex descriptions, their syntax, or their tone. When reading an excerpt of Hemingway’s A