Benito Cereno Book Report essays

Benito Cereno Book Report essays In Benito Cereno by Herman Melville, the author offers a warning about the dangers of slavery, and the future problems slavery could cause America. By telling the story of a slave revolt on a Spanish ship, Melville shows how prejudices affect a persons perception of the world around him. Through writing most of the story from the viewpoint of the main character, Captain Amasa Delano of Duxbury, Massachusetts, Melville demonstrates how prejudices can limit ones perspective and understanding. Although Captain Delano is an honest and kind person, he cannot perceive the world realistically because he believes that blacks are nothing more than property. Captain Delanos inability to recognize his prejudices or to learn from his experience in the slave revolt make him a symbol of what Melville fears will happen to America. The story opens in the early morning of August 1799, off the coast of Chile, aboard an American sealing ship called the Bachelors Delight and under the command of Captain Amasa Delano. Melville describes Delano as a benevolent optimist who has a singularly undistrustful good nature and does not like to believe that man is capable of evil. However, Delano is also described as a blunt thinker and a simple man incapable of irony. While Delano is described as such a definite thinking person, Melville depicts the morning as unclear and blurred. The sea is filled with a gray mist and the color of the sky, water and birds all seem gray. Thus, the reader knows that the indefiniteness of the day and its haziness will confuse Delano and prevent him from seeing clearly. Finally, the presence of shadows adds further mystery to the morning, which Melville says, foreshadow deeper shadows to come. The oddness of the day continued when Delano spotted a ship without a flag, which usually indicated that it was a pirate ship. However, based upon how the ship wa...