Benito Cereno and Amasa Delano are both captains of their own ships. Don Benito is a Spaniard and Captain Delano the American. Herman Melville gives us a Peter Pan story of two ships, Don Benito’s “San Dominick” and Captain Delano’s “Bachelor’s Delight”. Don Benito’s ship is described as a “negro ship” that looks deadly and full of sickness from its voyagers.
“Negro transportation- ship as the stranger in port was. But, in one language, and as with one voice, all poured out a common tale of suffering in which the negresses, of whom there were not a few, exceeded the others in their dolorous vehemence.” (2408).
The word “negresses” is used often by Melville. Africans are view as lower class and uncivilized throughout the passages. “All six, unlike the generality, had the raw aspect of unsophisticated Africans” (2409). Many prejudice remarks are made by Melville. Although Don Benito ship seems like hell for the Africans, Captain Delano didn’t approve of Babo. Babo becomes the third and African captain of the Dominick ship.
Don Benito is described as a Spaniard that has sudden mood changes, he is also described as selfish, rich and independent. The American, Captain Delano is “peter pan”. Delano is nice generous, friendly and he comes to the rescue of Don Benito in the end. Babo’s closeness to Don Benito,1. Because he is African, 2. Because he seems to influence Don Benito’s decisions, 3. He is the captain of the slaves, and 4. Because he is aware that many white men were lost when the ship got hit hard by the winds which cause fevers and deaths on board.
Don Benito’s character and ship are seen as irrational. The ship seems as a prison for the slaves. This made Delano think twice before helping Don Benito. In a certain part of the story, Captain Delano wanted Babo, he wanted to buy him from Don Benito and I was wondering if Captain Delano was willing to buy him just so he can kill him. Babo seems to be in charge of the ship more then Don Benito. Don Benito’s character also changes towards the end he becomes more talkative, he becomes more American I suppose.
Melville has one small description of the African women in “Benito Cerano”
“This incident prompted him to remark the other negresses more particularly than before. He was gratified with their manners: like most uncivilized women, they seemed at once tender of heart and tough of constitution: equally ready to die for their infants or fight for them. Unsophisticated as leopardesses: loving as doves”. (2427)
In the end both Don Benito and Captain Delano were not sure about each others intentions. Delano wonders and ask himself questions all over whether or not he should believe and help Don Benito. Don Benito becomes grateful and owes his life to Delano the American Captain and savior of not only Don Benito’s life but as well as his ship. A couple of witnesses tell the story of Babo’s plans and ideas of revolting. Babo and the other slaves saw an opportunity to be free and try to take advantage of it by revolting against Don Benito. This attempt failed and Babo was killed, his head was on a pole in a plaza. Babo becomes Captain of his own ship in the end; he also follows his master Don Benito to his journey to Peru.
----- TIMUR BRAVO
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The first thing that I noticed about Melville was that he uses commas too much. I found it distracting. I agree with Timur’s comment that the Africans were viewed as low class and uncivilized. They are also referred to as “cargo.” That being said, why wouldn’t they try to take over the ship? Clearly it was a risk they were willing to take. I wonder if any of the slaves were against it. Also, I couldn’t figure out if this was fact or fiction. The slaves must have thought that whatever came of the mutiny, it had to be better than what was waiting for them at the end of their journey. They were desperate, hopeless.
ReplyDeleteWhen Don Benito leapt into the boat with Captain Delano, I wonder if any of Benito’s crew were left on board. Because if there were, it seems kind of cowardly for him to leave them. And I also thought Delano’s reaction was kind of strange. It was very dramatic for Benito to jump from his ship, and Delano apparently had no reaction-initially. He said he “neither knew nor cared” why Benito had done that. You would think he would have been shocked, at the very least. I guess at that point, he was totally puzzled by the Spaniard’s actions and was tired of trying to figure him out. But when he saw Babo jumping into the boat after Benito, Delano realized pretty quickly that there was “danger afoot.”
Mindy Pigue
I think that this text reflects the volatile outcome of extreme submission with regards to slavery. The subordinate group is likely to retaliate against the dominant group given the degrading and abusive circumstances that they are subjected to. As Timur mentioned, the text is laced with demeaning descriptions of African slaves; they are likened to animals throughout. The text also seems to imply that slaves are most likely to rebel since they do not possess the intelligence for pacification. From Captain Delano’s perspective, the Spaniards or any slave owners should have the utmost agency. Although he considers Don Benito’s unease as part of the fate of the San Dominik, he still thinks that the captain maintains control over his slaves. Captain Delano chooses to believe that despite the obvious power Don Benito’s slave Babo has over his “supposed” master that Don Benito is still in charge. It is similar to figuratively wearing masks depending on the occasion to hide some aspects of our real character and in the process projecting false images.
ReplyDeleteBoth Don Benito and Babo wear masks. Don Benito projects to Captain Delano, the false image of superiority over the slaves on his ship while in reality he is really a prisoner of mutiny on his own ship. Similarly Babo displays to Captain Delano the image that he is a faithful servant of his master when in essence he is the Captain of the mutinied ship.
After reading the text I also noticed that the actions of the African slaves throughout the text and at the end sort of mimicked that of the European slave masters. The social hierarchy and the negative treatment of the dominant group are imitated and reflect the brutality of the group in power. Babo has risen to the highest authority on the ship as Captain with a crew of his own. He has resorted to keeping his master in check by threatening him with violence and keeping him silent most of the time. Most of the Spanish crew have been murdered while the few remaining Spanish crewmen are forced to do tedious jobs under the watchful eyes of the slaves or to sneak around rather mysteriously.
-Vedi Ramdhanie