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.

By reading through the novella ” Benito Cereno”, I reckon that it has a tragic ending. No one is the gainer throughout the entire story. The author, Herman Melville, depicts that enslavement is a movement that is brutal and inhumane. There are three main characters involved in this novella, which are the white captive Cereno, the white commander Delano and the smart black slave Babo. By describing Babo, the author has mentioned that Babo captures Cereno and initiate this uprising in order to recover all slaves’ freedom. However, the white commander Delano, who is considered as a rich-experienced white captain, has been described as a rescuer to save his life and other Spanish sailor’s lives from the revolt black slaves. In the end of the story, Babo was killed due to violation to law; and Cereno was dead since he suffered from mental disorder and torture.  Both of them ended up with sad ending. With more comprehensive reading of the entire novella, it is not difficult to tell that the author expresses slavery as a negative light. From the relationship between those three characters, the author shows the severe segregation of whites and black and the description of the social status of those two racial groups at that period of time. The purpose of the uprising of the black slaves is not only to fight back and prove that there is no difference between whites and black, but also they want to find a way to pursue their own freedom. Personally speaking, the true meaning about this story that everyone should learn  is that there is zero tolerance on racial discrimination. We live in the same world. We have same rights to fight for our future and share the same opportunities in order to achieve our goals. Nobody is inferior to anyone, and no one should have more power over anyone. We are the same. Everyone should be treated equally and deserve to live in the way they admire. In this story, I show sympathy to those slavery who are forced to move away from their families and homes. They should live peacefully with their families and enjoy their lives, but someone destroy all the good things from them, which I find it is extremely cruel, unethical and inhumane.

Herman Melville portrays Benito Cereno,who has figured out how to spare his everyday routine and assumes a huge function to spare his kindred Spanish who made due from the disease and the constraint of the slaves in the Novella. Delano was a rich-experienced white commander who made the uprising fizzled. Babo was ultimately executed as per the law, and Benito was later dead because of mental pressure and torment. The author portrays subjugation as something that is ordinary by communicating his anxiety about what has befalling the mariners rather denouncing the act of subjection. Also, the writer communicates a sort of demeanor against subjection through the conspicuous division of highly contrasting characters and the depiction of their exceptional societal position in that time of servitude. It shows that what the dark slaves needed was just a free and non-oppressive life. I comprehend that the objective of the slaves in San Dominic transport was not to execute Benito Cereno and the mariners but rather to be reclaimed to Africa, especially Senegal to recuperate their opportunity. Simultaneously, the creator additionally utilized Benito, who once had the function of expert, to communicate his job move from expert to slave. A decent delineation of how bondage and race separation ought not exist. Delano actually had a feeling of inborn predominance over the skin color and that is a profound impact from a drawn out subjection social foundation.

Herman Melville depicts slavery in his novella Benito Cereno as a violent and dehumanizing act. I believe Melville depicted slavery in its most realistic and explicit regard which is brutal, barbaric and dark. Melville was able to present the slaves suppression of anger and resentment, which was depicted primarily by Babo’s character and his extreme retaliation plan on his master Cereno. The novella depicts enslavement in a negative light, Melville suggests that slavery encourages malevolence when Delano says, “Ah this slavery breeds ugly passions in man.” Melville is highlighting the idea that the enslavement of man ignited the violent killing spree that took place in the ship. At the conclusion of the novella, I sympathized with Babo. Although Babo essentially acted in a cruel and violent manner much like Cereno and the slave-owners, he only did it for justice for him and the slaves. I also sympathized with Babo at the end of the novella because of his death which I thought was a tragedy because Babo consequently for fighting for his freedom and release, was killed. Delano’s blindness in the novella highlights the ignorance and dehumanization that existed in the period of slavery. Delano is wary of Babo’s character throughout the novella, but continues to brush-off any of his suspicions brought up by Babo’s questionable actions. This represents the oppression of slaves and the degradation slaves faced by their owners because they could not possibly be painted as logical, cunning humans, but as objects only existing to serve their masters.

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.

By reading the end of the story, the author Herman Melville describes Benito Cereno as a hero who has managed to save his life and the lives of some Spanish sailors from the rebelled slaves. We see that Benito Cereno plays a significant role to save his fellow Spanish who survived from the desease and the repression of the slaves. The writer depicts enslavement as something that is normal by expressing his concern about what has happening to the sailors instead condemning the practice of slavery. In the novel, we understand that the goal of the slaves in San Dominic ship was not to kill Benito Cereno and the sailors but to be taken back to Africa, particularly Senegal in order to recover their freedom. On the other hand, slaves were not organized to handle the situation, sometimes they were not respecting the commandment of their leader Babo. At the conclusion, both slaves and Spanish sailors were in a difficult situation to protect their lives but, I found that it is important to sympathize for the slaves who were taken in force from their peaceful family and countries to be treated without no dignity in America. As we know about slavery stories in America, these slaves were exploited in the countryside without no respect, they didn’t have enough food to eat, were subject to be killed at any time and were considered as a property. At some passage of the novel, Captain Delano can be considered as a good person because he ordered to bring water, supplies etc. for the people who were in San Dominic boat and invited Benito Cereno to take coffee with him in his boat. On the other hand, Captain Delano shows the cruelty by ordering to take guns and kill many of slaves in board of San Dominic and finally captured Babo who was found guilty of murder and stealing a ship and was hanged.

Benito Cereno is often cited as a powerful statement on enslavement in the U.S. Now that you have finished the novella, what are your thoughts about how Herman Melville depicted this practice? Does the novella depict enslavement in a negative or a positive light? Who do we sympathize with at the conclusion of the story? What should we make of Delano’s blindness? 

After reading Chapter 2 of Jonathan Culler’s “What is Literature and Does It Matter” the point that stuck out to me was when he mentioned fiction. Fiction can be complex, so many things can happen in works of fiction, it can originate from our everyday life, our imagination/dreams, etc. It can open many doors to writing many different kinds of books/ readings. It takes creativity to make readings based on fiction and it also requires the reader’s full attention, as reading fiction can really be really immersive, which is why fiction is what I love to read most.

After reading the chapter What is literature and does it matter? By Jonathan Culler, he defines literature in many ways as well as when he said that “literature comes in all shapes and sizes, and most of them seem to have more in common with works that aren’t usually called literature”. Which means that literature is not only the words that are simply written but it has a separate quality which makes it different and valuable attention. One example of this can be the good literature ‘My  Love is like a red, red rose’ a poem by Robert Burns, and ‘Hamlet’ a play by William Shakespeare that distinguishes from songs, transcriptions of conversations, and autobiographies. Something that I learned was that literature helps you to do many things as well as write in a professional way and do a good job. Also, literature has the quality of encouraging creative thought that makes people educated to continue a life as a good professional and more important literature can help people understand and express their thoughts to everybody any time they feel like it. 

The question that stayed with me as I was reading this chapter was, Can people ignore literature?