Thursday, May 13, 2010
Benito Cereno was pure comedy!
I felt that Benito Cereno was very entertaining. Though at many points of the novella it became repetitive and predictable, I was still unable to put it down. In this narrative, I feel Melville used much descriptive imagery and similar devices to portray the hierarchy of races. Melville makes the white fleet superior in every way possible from its aesthetic quality, to the cargo being shipped. It gives you the notion that Captain Delano, who is a white man, comes to the rescue of misfortuned minorities. Look how Melville speaks about the blacks upon the ship. He speaks of their loyalty and inferiority to their master. He tells of how they seemed ignorant due to the fact that many of them could not communicate with him. He even goes so far at one point, to compare them to wild animals. These descriptions are compared to those of Don Benito. Though ill and dull the entire narrative, we see Delano continually give Benito the benefit of the doubt regarding his actions and conversation. Because of this mans position to the blacks, Melville quickly establishes him in a position of dominance. Though we soon find out, it was the other way around. So when everything is brought to the light, and the rebellion is revealed who comes in to save the day and restore order.... The White Captain.
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The more I think about Benito Cereno, the more I wonder if in some weird sort of way, Melville is crediting the Blacks in a way. Of course, this is a much different opinion than I've had from the beginning, and I still don't think I really buy into, but it's an interesting thing to think about, in my opinion. My rationale is that by describing the slaves on the ship as inferior, ignorant and comparable to wild animals, I think the reader has to ask him or herself one question once all is revealed. That is, if these people are so incapable, how could they take over the whole ship? So maybe, without saying it directly, Melville intends to show that Blacks aren't inferior at all, but smarter than people at the time gave them credit for.
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