Having confirmed that the whole scheme was organized, why were there incidents of black on white violence, such as the stabbing and the trampling? No one is that ignorant to jeopardize the whole plan, unless the crew were somehow trying to send a message to Delano, and the blacks were attempting to prevent that...but the outbursts seemed random and the text does not describe even the prospect of a warning message.
Still trying to decide what Melville is saying about slavery in this book. Babo and his crew overtake the ship, but they are not merciful like in the mutiny that took place in the Heroic Slave, which do not put them in a good light. Also Delano considers the slaves inferior and compares them to animals. Maybe Melville is saying that the slaves were not unintelligent, they being capable of almost pulling off a great feat. But then, wouldn't Melville have allowed the slaves to finish victorious instead of defeated? When it was all said and done, the slaves seemed to be the hated enemies of the two protagonists.
You are asking some of the same questions that I had asked myself during the first read, so perhaps I can share some insight as to the phrase "Follow Your Leader" .
ReplyDeleteI had noticed "Follow Your Leader" and since it was written by one of the crew (in chalk, so it was recent and in Spanish), it serves as both a warning and a comment on the situation. The warning was perhaps silently coupled with another nautical phrase, such as "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here." There is also irony associated with the phrase, since it was clear that Cereno was forced to follow Babo as the leader and even followed him in death with the eternal gaze from his resting place to the place where Babo's head had been placed on a pike, as Kelly pointed out.
When I had read "Benito Cereno" again, I noticed another possibility. "Follow your leader" might well be the motto of "Benito Cereno." It appears early in the story, underneath the concealed skeleton of Don Aranda, and is repeated throughout the tale, always gaining new meaning. The "leader" in the inscription might refer to Aranda's threats that if the whites defied the blacks, they would follow that Don to their deaths. Or it could be Cereno, whose docile example provides a model for those remaining Spaniards who wish to save their lives. Later in the story, "Follow your leader" is Delano's mate's rallying cry as he leads the crew to capture the San Dominick from the rebel slaves.
I also noticed Melville depicting leadership as a paradoxical quality: just as effective when it is hidden as when it is brandished on a battlefield. The leaders are not necessarily those in command like Delano, but revolutionaries like Babo who refuse to live surrendered lives.
In reference to your comment on the Gordian knot, it is a reference to an unsolvable puzzle. The only way to work out the knot was to cut it, which is what the old sailor told Delano. That implies a call to action, conflict and even battle.
Michael
I, too, was greatly intrigued by the inscription “follow your leader” (p. 38) written below the figure-head of the San Dominick, and its malleable intent throughout Benito Cereno.
ReplyDeleteUpon further reflection, I question the significance of the covered figure-head of Christopher Columbus (p. 97), historically credited as one of the original “leaders” of exploration into the “New World”. Perhaps the San Dominick was symbolic of the “New World”, paralleling new challenges of the 1850’s, and indicative of growing racial tensions leading up to the Civil War. This dark and violent portrayal of mutiny was possibly meant to serve as Melville’s warning of impending doom to those who self-righteously underestimated their subservient opponents.
Delano’s blindly inquisitive explorations led him to “follow his leader”, Columbus, aboard the “new world” of the San Dominick. Babo orders his leader and owner killed, and then uses his skeletal remains as means of controlling his “new world” order by warning the Spaniards to “keep faith with the blacks...or you shall in spirit, as now in body, follow your leader” (p. 97). Additionally, as Michael pointed out in his comment, Delano’s mate cries “follow your leader” in pursuit of final capture of the San Dominick. And to end, we see that in Cerano’s passing (p. 107), indeed he follows what may have been the one truly heroic leader represented between the “masked” lines of this entire story – the slave, Babo.