Please write a well-informed observation about Benito Cereno and support it by incorporating a quote.
Then, write a response to another student's observation. If nobody has posted, post your observation and then make a response later.
Due: Tuesday, 1.29 (before class)
Then, write a response to another student's observation. If nobody has posted, post your observation and then make a response later.
Due: Tuesday, 1.29 (before class)
"See, yon bright sun has forgotten it all, and the blue sea, and the blue sky; these have turned over new new leaves"(Melville 103).
ReplyDeleteI like this quote in particular, because 'color' finally comes in the story. Before, dour grey and black and white were the only colors represented. Now that I know the ending, I noticed how "grey" was the foreshadow of the ambiguity Captain Delano was going to encounter.
The quote was written after the reader was revealed to what really happened in the ship, and it the blue sky and sunlight marks the end to this suspicion and terror.
I really like the quote Mami chose and her interpretation. I chose a quote similar to her's, and this quote gave me different impression towards the story. This quote discusses about the bright side of life, which was sort of new in the book.
DeleteI like this quote a lot as well. I was focused much more on the section of rebellion, and failed to notice this change in the reading. It is true that we had talked about color in class, and I think it's a very important point you found talking about brighter colors.
DeleteIsabel:
ReplyDelete"Where, three months after being dismissed by the court, Benito Cereno, borne on the bier, did, indeed, follow his leader" (104).
I found this to be a VERY powerful quote. It states that Cereno ends up dying 3 months after Babo was tried and executed. Cereno followed his leader Babo into death; it's almost foreshadowed with the writing on the boat "Follow Your Leader" (plus with the masthead being a human skeleton!). The last section of the book was quite chilling; starting with the skeleton masthead to this last powerful sentence.
Mami has a good point; I like how she interprets the sunlight as a signal to the end of the suffering, persay.
I love the quote Isabel chose because it was my second choice; the last line of this book is indeed very powerful.
DeleteI love how it went back to the original words "Follow your Leader". Melville intentionally choosing to write that instead of "and then Benito passed away" seemed to depict the paradoxal "leadership" on San Dominick.
Since Herman Melville lived in the era of slavery, it seemed like he used rhetorical strategies to appeal sympathy to the readers of slavery.
ReplyDelete"Because they have no memory," he dejectedly replied; "because they are not human." (103)
I thought this quote was really powerful but at the same time I was disappointed by America's inability to understand their morals; it saddens me how they didn't realize that they're all same human beings but just different skin color. Slavery to the white's at that time was their way of life.
"Negro Babo was the plotter from first to last; he ordered every murder, and was the helm and keel of the revolt" (Mellville 99).
ReplyDeleteAlthough I had my reservations about Benito and the crew, I never thought it would come to this. But I guess it makes sense if you are someone who is snatched away to become a slave, that you'd want to avenge those who had taken you away in the first place. Everything that happened to most of the characters in this short story is pretty tragic, and I think serves as a good reminder to us all that slavery is a bad thing.
I really liked Isabel's quote, and how she talked about how Benito Cereno's death, which followed Babo's a month or two later, is indeed, "following the leader". Creepy.
"That he then, the better to disguise the truth, devised many expedients, in some of them uniting deceit and defense..." (Melville 97).
ReplyDeleteI was quite surprised of how witty and cunning Babo was, as the context suggested that there was something very mysterious about him; yet we felt sympathetic for his role as being a "slave". But the fact that readers often feel sympathetic towards the role with less authority made me really think how cunning Babo was. His plan was really precise and carefully put together and I think this part of the reading was the most interesting part of the whole novel, because of how we see the one with the less authority gaining authority and acting as if they were still slaves;but Captain Delano was quite keen that he noticed through the little hints that were given out by the slaves.
I really liked Mami's quote, I just realised how we found color in a dark and grey world, after everything was solved. I also thought it was a great way to end the story after the dark shadows of grey vanished from the Story.
I found the last part of the novel to be sad because the friendship between the Spaniards and the slaves were false. I feel pity for the Spaniards and Benito Cereno, but it was the mistreatment of human beings that brought it upon them in the first place. Therefore, I don't think we can judge Babo and his men for using violence to try and return to their homes. I'm not sure whether Melville was against slavery or not, and the ending did not help me to determine it. However, perhaps he was neither for slavery or against it. Therefore, perhaps the color grey was so prominent in the novel because he stood in the middle.
ReplyDeleteI loved Isabel's quote also. Initially I thought Melville was talking about Aranda, but I think I like the thought of Babo being Cereno's leader better. It makes the novel more unsettling.
I really like how she interpreted the color grey, for slavery; I haven't thought of that. However, I had a similar opinion about, not only the slavery, but on a broader aspect of the black-white, and slaves-master relationship.
Delete"But the past is passed; why moralize upon it? Forget it" (Melville 103).
ReplyDeleteTo me, this quote was powerful, and I personally like it.
This gave me a different impression, and changed the whole image of the book.
This quote had a message that humans should not look back at their past, and should always keep on developing. With historical event, we can't do anything about what happened in the past, so we should always keep on moving, and remember not to have the same thing happening again in the future. And I think this quote applies to how slavery occurred in the past.
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ReplyDelete"But by the time the cable of the San Dominick had been cut, and the fag end, in lashing out, whipped away the canvas shroud about the beak, suddenly revealing, as the bleached hull swung round towards the open ocean, death for the figurehead, in a human skeleton, chalky comment on the chalked words below, Follow Your Leader".
ReplyDeleteI found this quote remarkable for multiple reasons. First of all it's a beautiful sentence, with the alliteration and imagery. Actually, i find it hard to visualize much of Melville's writing. He writes so much, and in such detail, yet I still can't imagine it in my head. This quote is also important because it marks the climax of the story-the point where it dawns on Delano that the slaves were in control the whole time. While it may not be a sentence you can analyze too much, I think it is the most important sentence in this book.
I like Shirori's quote. It reflects views from that era and it also applies to situations outside of the story.
"the servant, placing his master's hand on his naked shoulder, and gently holding it there, formed himself into a sort of crutch," (Melville 86).
ReplyDeleteI just really liked the overall racial irony throughout the story. The fact that Babo and the rest of the slaves had somewhat of an advantage over the Spanish sailors and the Captain himself proved to be an interesting concept, especially so early in racial injustice. Seeing the slave enthusiastically help his master, although fake, seems to tell the cliche story of slavery in the opposite way; I'm guessing, in reality, pretty much all the slaves were not enthusiastic at all when being forced to help there white masters.
I liked how Zen connected the sort grey theme to Melville's possible opinion on slavery; he suggests reconciliation between the slaves and the masters, but decides to punish the slaves in the story for trying to fight in order to go home. I really liked that metaphor.
"Some months after, dragged to the gibbet at the tail of a mule, the black met his voiceless end. The body was burned to ashes; but for many days, the head, that hive of subtlety, fixed on a poke in the plaza, met, unabashed, the gazes of the whites..." (104).
ReplyDeleteThroughout the story, slavery has been brought up so many times; and Melville is a transcendentalist, therefore, has been strongly against the slavery and the idea of taking away the deserved freedom from one. However, in this scene, Babo's head is put on show in a plaza, "gazed by the whites",which is a sign of humiliation. This made me think that although Melville has so strongly been against the slavery itself, for its deprivation of freedom, he might not have had a similar perspective towards discrimination. I am not sure; and this is the only story I read from him so I am not in the best position to judge but, it was very interesting to see how, in the end, it still is the black Babo, being put in such a situation.
" Captain Delano saw the free hand of the servant aiming with a second dagger-a small one , before concealed in his wool-with this he was snakishly writhing up form the boat's bottom at the heart of his master, his countenance lividly vindictive, expressing the centered purpose of his soul" ( 88)
ReplyDeleteThis was the part of the story where the truth reveals, and despite the slow tempo of the story, this quote really just shook me to realize that Babo was the actual master, and connecting all the previous suspicions and seeing them all click together.
I agree on Claudio's comment. The irony really brings out a different side of slavery especially during that time period. Instead of the white being served, it is the black being served, however I do feel that making the black superior over the white, still doesn't justify slavery at all.
"You are saved, Don Benito," cried Captain Delano, more and more astonished and pained; "you are saved; what has cast such a shadow upon you?""The Negro."(103)
ReplyDeleteThis quote shows the place of the black men in the story. They cast a shadow upon other men like Cereno, they should not be underestimated, as the slaves probably were in the beginning of the voyage.
`I agree with Catherine that the quote on 83 with the dagger really shifts the readers understanding completely, that is the moment the story is shaken up and we start to realize what really went on.
"Captain Delano, now with scales dropped from his eyes, saw the Negroes, not in misrule, not in tumult, not as if frantically concerned for Don Benito, but, with mask torn away, flourishing hatchets and knives in ferocious piratical revolt" (Melville 88).
ReplyDeleteI thought this was interesting not only because it is a huge turning point in the story, but because it shows how different things can seem when seen from different perspectives. Even while suspecting that something was wrong with the ship, Captain Delano still couldn't see clearly enough to realize that the Negros were on the verge of rebellion.