American Political Thought - Benito Cereno Analysis

POL 411 March 29, 2012 Benito Cereno in the Context of Slavery Herman Melville’s novella Benito Cereno is a story that helps to express Melville’s view on slavery. Contained within the text is an intricate story that sheds light on the ultimate underlying problems to the existence of slavery. The way that Melville builds the story in the novella through certain situations bring attention to the ideals of slavery, leadership, and American character. It is most often found that Melville is anti-slavery, however, he is not apt to necessarily conform to anyone side. Melville expresses the qualities of the slave and slavery itself throughout Benito Cereno. The story of Benito Cereno is told in a way that the reader is unknown to the†¦show more content†¦Babo is an intelligent slave, as he is secretly running the operations on the boat and understands the necessity to create the looks of a normal running slave vessel. Benito Cereno is quick to follow the lead of Babo and they hope to receive the supplies necessary to travel to Africa and colonize. Melville illustrates that the blacks were not capable of making the journey to Africa. It could be that Melville himself did not see a colonization of freed slaves in Africa as being an appropriate response to slavery. Lincoln, as well, did not think that the colonization of Africa was advantageous to the black man. Instead, Lincoln saw Central America as being a more respectable place to create a colony for the freed slaves. He stated that Central America is, â€Å"†¦on a great line of travel – it is a highway.† Lincoln saw that if colonization were to be an answer to the slavery issue then a region within a reasonable travel distance would help to keep a connection between the people of both lands. Similarly Lincoln saw this region as being a good climate and having an abundance of natural resources. Melville creates a similar notion with the San Dominick, as it’s slaves had the grand idea of making their way to Africa, however they are unable to di rect the vessel the long journey. Lincoln also addresses the fact that if freed slaves were to colonize itShow MoreRelatedAnalysis of Critical Essays on Benito Cereno1280 Words   |  6 Pages Analysis of Critical Essays on Benito Cereno nbsp; It is possible to divide the critics into two camps regarding Herman Melvilles purpose in writing Benito Cereno. Joseph Schiffman, Joyce Adler, and Sidney Kaplan all argue that Melville wrote the story to make a comment on slavery. On the other hand, Sandra Zagarell and Allan Emery contend that Melville goes beyond slavery and is pointing out other flaws in mid Nineteenth century American notion. nbsp; Benito Cereno tellsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Good And Evil 1565 Words   |  7 PagesYajaira Andraschko Professor Murray ENC 1102- 07 03 November 2014 The Good and Evil in â€Å"Benito Cereno† Benito Cereno is certainly one of the most mysterious and notorious novellas of Melville. Full in symbolism and somewhat gothic in its analysis, that it has caused a great partition among the literary critics of Melville. Various critics have argued that the text defenses the association of slavery while others have argued that it sentences it. There are those who have not taken into consideration