Expert answer:why would he do this?
Solved by verified expert:Attached is my short essay for the short story Benito Cereno by Herman Melville. The following is a follow up reply and question to the essay.Please answer the BOLDEN question. Only need about a paragraph or so.I have to admit, I find Yvor Winters’ argument—that the slaves in “Benito Cereno” symbolize evil—hard to understand. Given that they are slaves fighting for their freedom, how could they be anything *but* heroes? I have no idea if Winters was too racist to see the slaves as courageous and desperate human beings doing what any other courageous and desperate human beings would do in such a situation—maybe he was, but it seems unlikely.It seems to me that if we want to see evil as a theme of “Benito Cereno,” the more likely candidate for a symbol would be Cereno and the Spaniards, partly because we know that Melville disapproved of slavery, and partly because we know that Americans in his day were not too fond of the Spaniards. There was a tendency at the time for Americans (and northern Europeans) to think of Spain as having been exceptionally cruel as an imperial power. This tradition is sometimes called the Black Legend (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Legend). If Melville bought into this way of thinking, it seems likely that he would use the Spaniards, not the African slaves, to symbolize evil. (FWIW, when it came to the treatment of Native Americans and African slaves, Spain was not really any worse than Britain and the other imperial powers.)Anyway, let me return to the passage in which the narrator first uses the word “evil”:“Considering the lawlessness and loneliness of the spot, and the sort of stories, at that day, associated with those seas, Captain Delano’s surprise might have deepened into some uneasiness had he not been a person of a singularly undistrustful good-nature, not liable, except on extraordinary and repeated incentives, and hardly then, to indulge in personal alarms, any way involving the imputation of malign evil in man. Whether, in view of what humanity is capable, such a trait implies, along with a benevolent heart, more than ordinary quickness and accuracy of intellectual perception, may be left to the wise to determine.”Okay, so according to the narrator, Delano has a trustful nature. He is not generally liable to think of people as evil. But given what people are capable of, this trustfulness is pretty dumb.Maybe we’re to think that the slaves have been evil by rebelling, and they are guilty of the “malign evil” mentioned by the narrator. But even if this is the case, it merely tells us that the *narrator* considers the slaves to be evil. It doesn’t mean that Melville thinks so, or that we need to read the story as saying so. Narrators are not always reliable. Lots of writers use what’s called an “unreliable narrator” to tell a story.For your followup. let me ask you about the strangely convoluted way in which the narrator speaks to us in the passage above. The first sentence is a doozy:“Considering the lawlessness and loneliness of the spot, and the sort of stories, at that day, associated with those seas, Captain Delano’s surprise might have deepened into some uneasiness had he not been a person of a singularly undistrustful good-nature, not liable, except on extraordinary and repeated incentives, and hardly then, to indulge in personal alarms, any way involving the imputation of malign evil in man.”It seems to me that, had he wanted to, Melville could have expressed himself much more clearly and directly here. Why not simply write something like this?—“Considering the lawlessness and loneliness of the spot, and the sort of stories, at that day, associated with those seas, Captain Delano should have been more suspicious. But he was a very trustful and good-natured man, who, perhaps unwisely, was reluctant to think of others as evil.”Something like that. To me the most egregious obfuscation, the most unnecessary complication of the language, in the whole passage is the word “undistrustful.” The two negations, “un” and “dis,” cancel each other out; Melville could have simply used “trustful,” but he didn’t. Why? It’s almost as if he were *deliberately* trying to make it hard for us to understand what’s going on. Any idea why he might want to do this?
san_dominick_mystery__final_.docx
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First, please re-read the following passage (from Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno) carefully:
“Considering the lawlessness and loneliness of the spot, and the sort of stories, at that day, associated
with those seas, Captain Delano’s surprise might have deepened into some uneasiness had he not
been a person of a singularly undistrustful good-nature, not liable, except on extraordinary and
repeated incentives, and hardly then, to indulge in personal alarms, any way involving the imputation
of malign evil in man. Whether, in view of what humanity is capable, such a trait implies, along with a
benevolent heart, more than ordinary quickness and accuracy of intellectual perception, may be left to
the wise to determine.”
Second, think about the semiotic challenge faced by Don Benito in the story. After Amasa Delano
boards the San Dominick, Don Benito must communicate the truth about his captivity to Delano using
language and other signs that will be understood by the American, but not by Babo. Don Benito leaves
plenty of clues, yet for the longest time–almost until it is too late–Delano fails to “get it.”
What does the story suggest about why it takes Delano so long to finally understand what’s going on?
Does his failure have anything to do with his being an American as opposed, say, to a Spaniard? What
exactly do you think Melville is trying to suggest in this story? Finally, do you think any of the critical
essays in the Norton Critical Edition can help us answer these questions? (Please cite at least one of
these readings.)
Captain Amasa Delano, in his investigation of the San Dominick, notices that it is obviously
in bad shape and in need of repair. He boards the ship and finds out that things are in even
more disorder than he had ever imagined. The ship is largely inhabited by black passengers,
with few whites including the likes of Benito Cereno. In his inquiry to understand what might
have been going on in the San Dominick, he is told stories by Benito Cereno, who then
assumes ownership of the “black slaves” aboard. The stories attempt to create mysteries to
explain the present condition of and in the ship, which to some extent did not add up to a
single flowing piece.
Delano is obviously kept from knowing the truth concerning the present situation by a set of
pre-planned lies and charades. The greatest reason however, that makes him the most
unlucky victim of these lies is the prejudice that is informed by his home setting of
Massachusetts. The writer suggests that most of the views of Captain Delano that holds him
longer in the state of guessing what might be going on, are shaped by his home background.
He is uncommonly generous in his dismissal of the circumstances that would otherwise inform
him of the reality that then was enshrouded in the garb of lies and charade. This was largely
due to his being of benign racism. He therefore remained too long trying to guess what was
going on, thanks to his blunt analytical and perceptive wit. Besides, he seemed to be
prejudiced against the blacks and would not at any moment imagine that mutiny had sprung.
In that moment he was aboard with Benito, he was already a captive with no say.
The failure of Captain Delano understanding what is going on in the San Dominickmay have
something to do with being an American, but never because he was from another nationality
like being a Spaniard. The challenge with him is the optimistic view with which he dismisses
the blatant contradictions that he finds himself faced with aboard the San Dominick. Such kind
of optimism possibly could have been shaped by the then-American views during the pre-civil
war of 19th-century America where benign racism had certain races seem more superior than
others. This is one of the reasons why it was possible to hoodwink the skipper. His views of
the occupants of the San Dominick were totally at odds with the reality. His opinion and the
reality are diametrically opposed to each other. Perhaps if he had been from another nation,
things would have been different or maybe he still might have been hoodwinked due to his
blunt perception, the difference only being the degree. Furthermore, Babo and other
occupants were so smart in their lies that it would naturally come out.
The major issue that Melville tries to address in his story Benito Cereno is probably the benign
racism that then permeated the American setting. He addresses the challenges that come with
such racism, which among others include mutiny led by Babo and Atufal in an attempt to
break the bond of slavery and become free. The cost of freedom is quite dear and comes at a
greater cost, including the loss of life. By extension, he focuses the attention of the reader on
slavery and in that line paints a picture that such practices are not to be embraced but
shunned due to the circumstances and events that surround slavery.
Another issue that Melville addresses is the good and evil in the society, the face-off between
the two. He suggests in his story that the evil acts perpetrated by people in the society are the
result of the various situations they find themselves in. For instance, Babo and his fellow
slaves rebel against their owner just because they wanted to be free. This situation gives rise
to death in the ship, which the slaves commit against their owner, Don Alexandro. Melville
therefore subtly suggests that if the stage is set for the right and benevolent intentions, then
good will result and the reverse of that also could be true.
The essays in the Norton Critical edition are quite valuable in trying to understand the various
questions that surround Melville’s story. They give insight to the major themes and
characterization of the story. For instance, Darrel Abel gives a view that shapes the
perspective of looking at the themes revolving around mutiny towards a particular direction.
He writes, “it will not do to interpret the mutinous blacks of Benito Cereno as the
representatives of evil. They represent an oppressed portion of humanity asserting equal right
to life.” However, not all the other critics agree with him. Contrary to Abel’s view, Yvor Winters
thinks that Babo and other slaves are portrayed as villains and not heroes. Such kind of
divergent criticism is very important in properly interpreting the literary work by making an
informed logical conclusion.
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