Emig Melville Blog

For this week's reading, we look deeply into the
master-slave relationship that defined the pre-Civil War era of the United
States. In "Benito Cereno," though we mostly hear Captain Amasa Delano's point of view, Melville uses two other main characters to represent the different understandings of the master-slave relationship. A key point to this story revolves around the issue of ambiguity. Delano represents the typical American-- a practical thinker with established viewpoints on different issues, like slavery. His mindset understands something like slavery to be a definitive force. His racist stereotypes do not allow him to see the Negro as anything else but a Negro, a slave. At this time, Americans were either for or against slavery-- there really was no grey area, at least not in the public arena. Melville accounts for this grey area, the ambiguous. Through the two main characters, Don Benito Cereno, a Chilean sea captain, and Babo, his Negro slave, Melville gives his readers a different perspective on the Negro. He gives the Negro human traits that highlight the intelligence, wits, and bravery of the Negro.  At this time in American history, blacks were still regarded as property, had very little rights, and longed for equality. In "Benito Cereno," that longing for equality shifts to desperation and eventual revolt, which turns the tables in favor of the slaves. With the master-slave hierarchy reversed, the intricate details of the relationship between Babo and Benito are revealed. Each understands how it feels to be both slave and master. After all is said and done, the Negro is, of course, demonized, convicted, and killed by "civil" society. However, one person empathizes with Babo-- Benito Cereno, his captive. At the end of the story on page 75, Delano and Cereno converse about the slave rebellion that took place on board both of their ships. However, Delano seems confused by Cereno's lack of joy. After all, his life was spared. But now, Cereno understands the horrors and utter terror of slavery. Those not subjected to slavery do not know the first thing about it; this is where ambiguity comes in. Upon arriving to submit his deposition of the events of the rebellion, Don Benito Cereno "the dress so precise and costly, worn by him on the day whose events have been narrated, had not willingly been put on." The text goes onto say that Benito could talk about Babo, "but look on him he would not, or could not." In this passage, the reversal of the master-slave relationship has truly set in for Benito. This signifies the hold that slavery has over a person (even a white), a society, and a nation. If this hold, or power, is not broken, both the slave and the master will die. Without the master-slave relationship, the people, the societies in which they live, and the nation at large will inevitably collapse in due time because they know nothing else. Change the mindset, change the nation-- I think that is the message of Melville's works, particularly "Benito Cereno."