Irony and Racial Uniqueness in Benito Cereno

In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allan Poe tells a story of a man named Fortunato, a professional wine taster, who has foolishly brought death upon himself. Fortunato has managed to anger a man with the name Montresor who has hatched a plan of revenge during a great carnival. To help the reader fully understand Poe uses three different kinds of irony verbal, dramatic, and situational. The verbal being their conversation, the dramatical, when he jokes about his health, and the situational when he is dressed as a jester.

In Herman Melville’s mysterious novella, “Benito Cereno”, Captain Amasa Delano observes, what appears to be, a distressed Spanish slave ship navigating into the harbor of St. Maria. Disregarding the opposition from his crew, Captain Delano leaves his ship, Bachelor's Delight, and approaches the foreign vessel, San Dominick, via a whaleboat. In addition to offering water and provisions to the vessel in distress, Captain Delano encounters—who appears to be in command of the vessel—Don Benito Cereno, and his “faithful” negro servant Babo. Throughout the novella, Captain Delano witnesses many suspicious behaviors from Benito Cereno, Babo, and the other slaves on board. Although Captain Delano has mixed feelings about Benito Cereno, in which he often views him as a “paper captain” who has “little of command but the name”, Captain Delano fails to latch onto his intuition of who is truly in command of the ship until it’s almost too late.

This could also be viewed as the repetition of a common occurrence in the book: the degradation of black people. Delano calls Babo a, “poor fellow”; this is somewhat demeaning, as it is an expression of pity. Pity, although it can derive from good intentions, ultimately derives from the belief that another is in an inferior state than the person that pities them. However, this shows that Delano feels sorry for Babo, indicating that he sees that slavery as a bad institution.

“The Book of Negroes is a master piece, daring and impressive in its geographic, historical and human reach, convincing in its narrative art and detail, necessary for imagining the real beyond the traces left by history.” I completely agree with The Globe and Mail’s interpretation of this story. One could almost see the desolate conditions of the slave boats and feel the pain of every person brought into slavery. Lawrence Hill created a compelling story that depicts the hard ships, emotional turmoil and bravery when he wrote The Book of Negroes.

Herman Melville had an interesting life, that came with many troubles and challenges. He was born on August 1st, 1819 to Allen and Maria Melvill of New York (Maxwell, D.E.S.). His family was a well-respected one, then their import business fell through and they moved to Albany, New York. Their finances were desperate. During this time they changed the spelling of their last name and added an e, to be spelled, Melville (Maxwell, D.E.S.). In 1835 Melville was already beginning to write, and while he was discovering writing, his family went bankrupt and moved to Lansingburgh.

Early American Literature reflects many conflicting differences in the presentation of slavery during that time period. Through the two chosen texts, the reader is presented with two different perspectives of slavery; Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a look at a slave’s life through the eyes if a slave while Benito Cereno showcases the tale of a slave uprising from the viewpoint of the slave owner.. Benito Cereno’s work shows the stereotypical attitude towards African-American slaves and the immorality of that outlook according to Douglass’s narrative. Cereno portrays the typical white slave owner of his time, while Douglass’ narrative shows the thoughts of the slaves. The two stories together show that white Americans are oblivious to the ramifications and overall effects of slavery. These texts assist a moralistic purpose in trying to open up America’s eyes to the true nature of slavery by revealing it’s inhumanity and depicting the cruelty that was allowed.

In Benito Cereno, Captain Delano’s attention is brought upon by the many clues and events that take place on the San Dominick shortly after he steps aboard. The first clue he comes upon while approaching the ship is that majority of the people on the boat are black. While also boarding the ship Delano sees that there is not much order since the black slave’s kind of do as they please. The black slaves are also witnessed by Delano demanding the whites around. Cereno, who Delano thinks is the captain of the ship, is kind of demanded around by two black slaves, one named Babo and the other named Atufal. While on the ship Delano witnesses many things that just don’t seem right, including another incident where a black person is assaulting a white

Captain Amasa Delano is an interesting embodiment of white complacency about slavery and it's perpetuation. Delano is a human metaphor for white sentiment of the time. His deepest sensibilities of order and hierarchy make it impossible for him to see the realities of slavery. Delano's blindness to the mutiny is a metaphor for his blindness to the moral depravity of slavery. The examination of Captain Delano's views of nature, beauty, and humanity, allow us to see his often confusing system of hierarchical order which cripples his ability to see the mutiny and the injustice of slavery.

In "Benito Cereno," Captain Delano's extreme naivete and desensitization towards slavery greatly affect his perceptions while aboard the San Dominick. Delano's racial stereotypes, views of master and slave relationships, and benevolent racism mask the true reality of what was occurring on board despite his constant uneasiness and skepticism. At a time when slave revolts were not

Benito Cereno’s ship, the San Dominick, also has an interesting reverse slavery, with the slaves becoming the masters and the Spaniards becoming the slaves. Also, Melville's use of the color of the races and their connotations is seen across the novella. Melville uses Delano’s thoughts on the slaves, the San Dominick, and the colors of white and black to show how racism can affect unsuspecting people, even if is unintentional. One of

Melville was an American writer and literary scholar who had many views and opinions on different aspects of American life and culture during the 19th century. He was a well renowned literary who didn’t hold back any thoughts he had to any issues plaguing that time period. Something Melville was truly passionate about was how corrupt American business was at the time and how it served little interest in the people. Melville wrote many short stories and passages about his beliefs on the matter and how he believed things could be changed around for the better. His slight anti-establishment views and the way he perceived the upper classes influence on business also were important things that he touched on his works. Lets take a look at Herman Melville and how he perceived 19th century American business practices.

Herman Melville uses several allusions to historical figures in the first eight chapters of his book Billy Budd. He uses these historical figures for various purposes throughout the novel. The first reference Melville makes is to the revolutionary pamphleteer Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine wrote about freedom and liberty, something which Billy Budd has while working on the Rights-Of-Man. Unfortunately his liberties are taken away against his wishes when he is forced to serve on the war ship (Melville 7). Another reference Melville makes is to Horatio Nelson, a British naval hero who lead the British fleet to many victories (Lord Nelson Born). Melville uses his allusion to Nelson to show everything a good naval leader should demonstrate, particular

A well-known author Herman Melville grew up with a very large family in New York; he was one of eight children (Merriman). The Melville family was very famous along with being well respected (Merriman). Herman’s father enjoyed telling stories to his children, from terror to sea life, along with adventure, there was never a dull moment in story time. In Melville’s story there is definitely a sense of adventure, from temples as large as a city, to the Woedlor Mountains of New England (Merriman). After his father’s passing Herman and his family moved from New York to the banks of the Hudson River. Giving Melville the peace and quiet needed to write several chapters and essays (Merriman) He continued to write to the very end of his life not limited to the above, but included short stories (Merriman). Moving back home he later began writing poetry.

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1st, 1819. Herman’s family consisted of his parents, Allan and Maria Gansevoort Melville, along with three brothers and four sisters. As a young boy Herman became very ill with scarlet fever in the year 1826, which would leave him with permanently weakened eyesight. Herman would still attend school at Male High School and he would temporarily attend Albany Academy to study classic literature. The Melville’s family import business collapsed in the year 1830 and Allan Melville died in the year 1832 which left the family in a terrible financial situation. Gansevoort, the oldest son, tried to take over the import business, but it ended up falling apart. This led the Melville’s to move to Lansingburgh, New York where he studied surveying at Lansingburgh Academy. As Herman was unable to find work he signed as a crew member for a merchant ship

The two ironies I have observed from the material was when Marjorie told Jimmy has to leave her house in Davao just as he leans in to kiss her and she reciprocates the kiss. This is a type of verbal irony wherein Marjorie says something but does the exact opposite of it because she has romantic feelings for the husband of her best friend, Sylvia. A dramatic irony is also shown in the play when Jimmy and Marjorie were flirting with each other in Sylvia’s house while Sylvia and her mother were behind the couch observing everything.