Herman Melville depicted a failed slave revolt that happened aboard the San Dominick. The three main characters in this novella are Babo, the leader of the slave revolt, Benito Cereno, the controlled Spanish captain and Amasa Delano, the white captain who stopped this slave revolt. Upon Captain Delano’s visit, Babo always stood by Cereno, reminding and threaten him to behave and keep the secret. But eventually the revolt was discovered by Delano and he and his man fought against the slaves. In the end, Babo was executed according to the law and died. Cereno also died from mental problems and torture. In this novella, Herman Melville described many scenarios in a vivid way, which enables readers to be more deeply expressed. In my opinion, the novella depicts enslavement in a negative light. This was a tragic story. I sympathize Babo the most. In the period of slavery, the reason why Babo organized this revolt was because he wanted freedom. He couldn’t even control his own life. As a slave, he was controlled by his master and was treated as goods. But eventually his revolt was in vain. After reading this story and recalling the movies and articles about slaves’ life I read before, I can feel how eager Babo was to gain his freedom. As for Delano’s blindness, he considered black people as those who were supposed to serve them only. I believed it was caused by the social background at that time that slaves had no rights or freedom at all.

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