Benito Cereno

In the Benito Cereno, author depicts three main characters involving the captive White Benito, the rescuer white captain Delano and black smart slave Babo. By depicting Babo, a clever black slave, as the leader, he led an uprising for the freedom of black slaves. He captured Benito, a white crew on the slave ship, and asked him to lead the way for their freedom. However, Delano, a rich-experienced white captain made the uprising failed. Babo was eventually executed in accordance with the law, and Benito was later dead due to mental stress and torture. The author expresses a kind of attitude against slavery through the obvious division of black and white characters and the description of their special social status in that period of slavery. It shows that what the black slaves wanted was nothing more than a free and non-discriminatory life. The representative of black slaves, Babo, his intelligence led the slaves to fight back and prove that they are just as good as the whites. At the same time, the author also used Benito, who once had the role of master, to express his role transfer from master to slave. After experiencing the slave role, Benito finally realized the faulty concept of race discrimination. A good illustration  of how slavery and race discrimination should not exist. As Delano, he still had a sense of innate superiority over the color of the skin and race. That is a deep influence from a long-term slavery social background.

1 thought on “Benito Cereno

  1. Hector Ramos

    True, It’s a tragic case of social norms at the time that makes everyone suffer in the end. I thought the same, about Cereno’s mental state. I found it ironic how he ended up feeling like how so many slaves must have felt in their enslavement. Ultimately it was the crew of a slave ship that were enslaved and needed saving.

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