Culler came up with five points theorists about the nature of literature as well as the literature as the foregrounding of language, literature as the integration of language, literature as fiction, literature as aesthetic object, and literature as intertextual. I found the most interesting and useful is “Literature as fiction,” as the book states that “The literary work is a linguistic event which projects a fictional world that includes speaker, actors, events, and an implied audience.” meaning that the audience is who takes shape through the work’s decisions about what must be explained and what the audience presumed to know. In my opinion, the literature as fiction is what refers to imaginary scenarios which are not limited to characters and events. Also, I think that the fiction writers do a great literature work, by letting them develop their experience of thinking into the imaginary world. Finally, as I said before they create events, actors, audiences, and places in the perfect organized unreal society that is not related to historical events. 

After finishing Benito Cereno, I stopped for a minute to marvel at what a masterpiece Herman Melville had written. Melville’s depiction of the practice of slavery is a scene that I had never thought about or heard about before. Most of my knowledge of slavery is in reference to American Slavery, a few generations into the start, so I never really knew too much about the journey or the experiences of slaves who were brought straight from their homelands. Not to be offensive, but it is a common belief that after a few generations of slavery, many slaves were uneducated as a result of the oppression that they faced. I truly believe that Melville’s depiction of slavery was positive. Something that is easy to forget is that as silly as someone may sound speaking a language that isn’t there native or first language, you cannot determine how smart someone is in their native tongue. I never would have thought that Babo was the mastermind behind the entire revolt, ordering all the other slaves and puppeteering Don Benito in Captain Delano’s presence. Melville shows another side of slavery that I had never before thought about and despite the brutality and the malice that the Blacks aboard the San Dominick showed towards the crew members and passengers, I sympathized with the Blacks more so than I did the crew members of the ship, with the exception of Don Benito. Finally, I do not think Captain Delano can be blamed for his blindness. I do not think the vast majority of people are perceptive enough to have picked up on what was actually going on, especially as Captain Delano was not only an experienced sea captain, but an incredibly observant one as well. I doubt that in his place, any of us would have been able to piece together what was going on, especially with Babo’s masterful puppeteering and Don Benito’s compliance.

After finishing Benito Cereno, I believe the Herman Melville depicted enslavement in a positive light and Delano’s blindness plays a part into this. You see, in the mind of Delano he sees both the slaves and Benito’s crew as working together in harmony and is even amused at the fact that Babo, one of the slaves, helps the clumsy Benito. But later it is all revealed to be a farce and that Babo intended to kill Benito just like the slaves killed Benito’s passengers and crew members. Eventually, the uprising by the slaves is “heroically” defeated by Delano’s crew and we read about Benito and Delano interacting afterwards with Benito basically being scarred for life and eventually retreating to a monastery, where he dies. I think the author tries to make the reader sympathize with Benito multiple times but as for me, he literally engaged in slave trade so the slaves have a justification as to why they did what they did.

Considering the lawlessness and loneliness of the spot and the sort of stories. Captain Delano’s surprise might have depended into some uneasiness. Amasa Delano discovers a distressed slave ship in need of aid, only to later find out that his perception of the dire situation was completely incorrect. The racial blindness that draws attention to in his novel reflects his own preparation of his readership during the mid nineteenth century, in which he thought Americans to be ignorant of cultural and social issues. When one couples the relentless reminder of Delan’s racial blindness with Melville’s general skepticism during this time. It becomes clear that novella is just as much a work for his readers as it is an avenue for Melville to insightfully examine the social dynamics and delano’s role in them aboard the San Dominick.

Now that I finished reading “Benito Cereno,” I found it really interesting how Herman Melville speaks about slavery. Through Delano’s eye, we can see that he wants to look at the slaves as normal human beings, which, back in time, was not the case. And I think he achieves it perfectly by making him blind to the real situations and making any event positive and turned with sympathy. During the 3/4 of the text, we feel empathy for the slave whose road went so wrong but still try to help the boat maneuver them far from the world they always knew. He thinks the slaves are not nice due to the scurvy, and the Spanish lost their power due to their sickness. But then the truth appears, and once you discover the violence and the torture that happened, then the empathy turns to Benito.

For me, the text brings two tracks of thought :
The first one: Poor Don Benito, who trusted the slaves to sleep free at night and got mentally torture and sick. The second: poor slaves, they never asked to be put on a boat and carried to a foreign country; they only tried to return to the freedom that has been stolen from them.

In the novel, Don Benito Cereno, I believe that Herman Melville perhaps does not show slavery as either a positive or a negative thing, but rather shows the reality of enslavement. On the one hand, the novel shows all the mistreatment that slaves received. But on the other hand, it shows how many of them reacted to so much cruelty towards them. In other words, Melville is telling us that slaves were not always submissive people who, although unintentionally, always obeyed their masters, they also had the courage to face their masters and fight for what they wanted, to return to Africa. I do not justify the behavior of the slaves when they seized the ship and basically governed Don Benito, but I think that was their way of reacting to get what they wanted, to be taken back to Africa. At the end of the story, I sympathize with the two groups of people, the slaves, and the Spaniards, because I think that none of them should have died or suffered so much. Although it is important to bear in mind that at that time the idea of ​​the superiority was a very strong taboo, at the end of the day, what should matter is that we are all human, and we all share a common home which is the world. For me, that means that no matter how different our cultures are, we all deserve the right to live and be anywhere in the world without being discriminated against.

In fact, the novel does not describe the mistreatment of slaves, but the slaves in the novel are more of a negative image. I have to say that the writer’s skill in writing is excellent. The author describes a slave owner as a victim, because the slave owner in the novel gives slaves certain freedom and does not restrain them, so the slave owner is a good person, even if he is a slave owner. Instead, slaves who rebelled for freedom killed and threatened their original masters. So slaves are bad and punished, so they deserve it. There is no logic to this!! The author is deliberately avoiding some things, the real events are often more brutal. Especially at the end of the novel, the author deeply reveals the evil deeds done by the slaves. This dilutes the fact that slave owners sold slaves. One of the interesting things about the novel, of course, is that the slaves who were supposed to be in charge took control of their masters, and the slave owners became the slaves’ hostages. This is also the author is playing down the differences between the two classes. There is no difference between them. When their positions are reversed and they become slaves of the upper class, they also suppress the slave owners of the lower class. It doesn’t matter what race, color or nationality, because it’s human nature. There are actually no really good people in this novel, and I don’t think any of them deserve sympathy, even Delano. Delano’s arrogance and hypocrisy. From beginning to end, Delano sees himself in the way of a hero. He was not kind; he was merely taking advantage of his lofty position to pity the poor. I don’t think he was doing justice when he finally got the ship back, for there is really no justice in such things. He simply did not allow his authority to be threatened.

After reading the novella Benito Cereno written by Herman Melville is a strong proof of enslavement in the United States Of America, I have clearly understood the sentiments of the slaves. They have undergone so many untoward incidents in their lives which made them sad, silent, oppressed, and rebellious. They have suffered a lot in the hands of their masters where they are compelled to serve them and make their masters happy and contented by all means. They have no other choice but to follow their masters. The novella depicted the enslavement in a negative way because a number of black men who were already infected with scurvy and not even given any medicine were forced to do strenuous work. In addition, Don Benito has been cruel and inhumane to them. To cite an example was the case of Atufal who was allowed to go around with the chain wrapped on his body connected to his neck by a metal collar due to unacceptable deed such as a sign of violence. Meanwhile,  First, I sympathize with the Black Americans because they don’t deserve that kind of treatment that Don Benito accorded to them. It was only unfortunate that they were slaves for they do not have freedom just like any other human being. Second, I also sympathized with Don Benito because he had gotten emotional due to the revolt of the slaves that happened in San Dominick that made him physically weak and eventually caused his death. Moreover, we have to unfold Captain Delano’s blindness by instilling in our minds that everyone deserves respect and equal treatment regardless of color, race, and gender. It is our moral obligation to have a good relationship among us to build a strong and progressive country.