Blog #6

After reading Benito Cereno by Herman Melville,  I thought this book is Herman Melville’s reaction to slavery, but it does not describe about the cruel enslavement of African Americans in a negative or positive view. Instead, the history is directly presented to readers, reader is the story’s referee. I think maybe Cereno is the most tortured person, who try to find a balance between compatriots and sympathetic slaves, but it was difficult to achieve in the context of that time, so he died at the end.  Babo is another one important character, but what is sympathetic is his identity, a slave. He was the leader of the rebellion on the ship. Although he failed and eventually died, he was admirable. It’s hard to talk about Delano’s blindness, He has a twisted pride in his race and skin color but he is not the only one who limited by the legal slavery and other law at that time, even if we think he is a racist, he may never think about it himself. The truth is there may be all discrimination and unequal treatment at any time, we need to fight for it.