Emancipation Proclamation Discussion Questions Background The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, , in the Jan 07, · We are very grateful to you all for your patronage and support over the years. The University of Adelaide Library is proud to have contributed to the early movement of free eBooks and to have witnessed their popularity as they grew to become a regular fixture in study, research, and leisure Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Lowell grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at Harvard University and Kenyon College. He is best known for his volume Life Studies (), but his true greatness as an American poet lies in the astonishing variety of his work. In the s he wrote intricate and tightly patterned poems that incorporated traditional meter and rhyme; when he published
Herman Melville - Wikipedia
In "Benito Cereno," the narrator is Amasa Delano, the captain of a Massachusetts whaling ship. When the story begins, Captain Delano and his ship, the Bachelor's Delight, are anchored off the island of Santa Maria. The Delight is a sealer, or whaling ship. While anchored, the crew spots another ship coming toward the island. The new ship seems to be floating rather listlessly, benito cereno essay, and her sails are torn.
Delano decides to send a boat over to investigate. He and his men reach the ship, which they see is called the San Dominick. The ship looks weather-beaten and decrepit. The figurehead of the ship is covered by canvas, but chalked underneath are the words in Spanish"follow your leader. He boards the ship, and he is immediately accosted by sailors and black slaves, all begging for water and supplies. Delano orders his crew back to his own ship to get supplies, then tries to figure out what's happened to the San Dominick.
He benito cereno essay the benito cereno essay captain, Benito Cereno, benito cereno essay. Cereno seems a strange man, very nervous and strangely aloof; his behavior confuses Delano.
Delano wonders if Cereno is an aristocrat who was given command of a ship, even though he doesn't seem to be a very good captain. But Delano is a patient and forgiving man, so he persuades himself that Cereno's benito cereno essay is a result of the trouble Cereno and his ship have suffered.
Cereno is constantly attended by Babo, his young black servant. Delano asks Cereno to explain what happened to the San Dominick. Briefly, benito cereno essay, Cereno falters, staring down at the deck, benito cereno essay. Annoyed, Delano goes to ask a sailor for the story, but Cereno abruptly speaks up.
He tells Delano that the ship had left Buenos Aires six months earlier, bound for Lima. While rounding Cape Horn, they struck heavy winds, Cereno claims, benito cereno essay, and to lighten the ship they threw supplies overboard, including their containers of fresh water.
While telling this story, Cereno has one of his many near-fainting spells, which makes Delano believe that Cereno is both sick and perhaps mentally troubled. Whenever he has these spells, Babo catches his master in his arms. Cereno continues the story, brokenly: the San Dominick rounded Cape Horn, but the ship was badly damaged, and many of the ship's crew became sick with scurvy and died, including every officer.
The ship was then blown into the deep seas, where the wind suddenly died out, leaving the ship adrift and with little water, benito cereno essay. Since then, Cereno claims he had benito cereno essay attempted to reach land, but had always been prevented from doing so by bad weather or bad seamanship by the remaining sailors. He adds that the slaves' owners were "quite right" in claiming that it was safe to allow the slaves to roam free on the deck, without chains.
Cereno ends by praising his servant Babo, whom he credits with keeping the slaves pacified during all the problems. Delano also praises Babo, saying he envies that Cereno has such a faithful friend. Delano is particularly struck by the image of the pleasant, strong black benito cereno essay upholding the weak, well-dressed white captain.
But unlike "Bartleby," where interpretation of the story's essential meaning is the main area of interest, "Benito Cereno" owes much of its popularity among literary critics to its subject matter: slavery. Therefore, it is bothersome to Melville scholars that the story is so maddeningly enigmatic. Like much of Melville's work, the popular interpretations of "Benito" have changed depending on the political and academic atmosphere of each critic.
The historical incident that "Benito Cereno" is based on is very similar to the one that Steven Spielberg's film Amistad was based upon.
The film's plot is entirely sympathetic to the slaves, benito cereno essay. Their masters are shown to be cruel monsters who deserved their deaths, and the slaves are portrayed as righteous freedom fighters who want nothing more than to return home. Imagine if Spielberg had tried to make a film where the black slaves are the bad guys and the slavers, heroically defending themselves with pistols and rifles against the swords and hatchets of the slaves, are the good guys.
In the s, when Amistad was made, such a movie would have drawn massive protests—Spielberg would have been run out of the country. But "Benito Cereno," published in during a time of great political turmoil over the issue of slavery, six years before the Civil Warprovides that very scenario: the slaves, benito cereno essay, who are portrayed as both brutal and cunning, revolt against their masters and benito cereno essay thwarted by the efforts of well-armed white men.
However, few critics believe that "Benito Cereno" is a pro-slavery story. Few men in America had had more contact with indigenous foreigners, living in their native homes of Africa or the Polynesian Islands, benito cereno essay, than Melville. Melville's brutally cunning slaves may have been somewhat inspired by his experiences living amongst cannibals, but Melville was also a product of New England, of Massachusetts and of the Transcendentalist movement—he was in the center of abolitionist activity, and he was benito cereno essay known to trouble his literary friends by expressing pro-slavery attitudes.
It seems highly unlikely that in "Benito Cereno" Melville was deliberately trying to portray blacks as being rightly condemned to slavery; rather, it is an intriguing exploration of the relationship between blacks and whites. The story is surprisingly modern in its contemplation of racism, more than a hundred years before the civil rights movement.
The protagonist of "Benito Cereno" is not really Captain Delano—his character does not really change in the course of the story, other than his awakening to the true relationship of Cereno and the slaves, benito cereno essay. Rather, the protagonist is Cereno himself, who falls under "the benito cereno essay of the Negro" in the course of the tale, eventually leading to his death, benito cereno essay.
But upon a first reading, until the very end, it seems almost certain that the story is going to be Delano's, and Cereno will be revealed to be some sort of villain.
By re-reading the story, benito cereno essay reader can properly understand Cereno's behavior in any given situation. The reader understands why Cereno's eyes go glassy for a moment when Delano benito cereno essay him what has happened to his ship; Cereno is trying to remember the story Babo told him.
When Babo shows Cereno the bloody razor, the reader understands his terror—Babo is threatening him. Want study tips sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletter! Search all of SparkNotes Search Suggestions Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
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SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Character List Bartleby. Themes Motifs Symbols Key Facts. Important Quotes Explained. Context Full Book Quiz Section Quizzes Context Plot Overview Character List Themes, Motifs, and Symbols 'Bartleby the Scrivener' 'Bartleby the Scrivener' cont. How to Write Literary Analysis Glossary of Literary Terms How to Cite This SparkNote Suggested Essay Topics. Summary "Benito Cereno" Part I. Page 1 Page 2. Summary In "Benito Cereno," the narrator is Amasa Delano, the captain of a Massachusetts whaling ship, benito cereno essay.
Analysis "Benito Cereno" is, like "Bartleby the Scrivener," one of Melville's most hotly debated short stories. Previous section "The Encantadas" Sketches 6—10 Next page "Benito Cereno" Part I page 2. Test your knowledge Take the 'Benito Cereno' Part 1 Quick Quiz. Take a study break Every Shakespeare Play Summed Up in a Quote from The Office.
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Herman Melville and Anti-Transcendentalism, Benito Cereno
, time: 5:43Melville Stories "Benito Cereno" (Part I) Summary & Analysis | SparkNotes
Jun 02, · By Benito Cereno / June 2, am EDT. Greek mythology has no shortage of larger-than-life heroes, including the Olympian gods like Zeus and Hera, heroic demigods like Heracles and Perseus, and terrifying monsters like Medusa and Cerberus. But among these major players are hundreds of minor characters, filling in the edges or just Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Lowell grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at Harvard University and Kenyon College. He is best known for his volume Life Studies (), but his true greatness as an American poet lies in the astonishing variety of his work. In the s he wrote intricate and tightly patterned poems that incorporated traditional meter and rhyme; when he published Jan 07, · We are very grateful to you all for your patronage and support over the years. The University of Adelaide Library is proud to have contributed to the early movement of free eBooks and to have witnessed their popularity as they grew to become a regular fixture in study, research, and leisure
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