Write an informal essay of about 750-1,000 words.

First, please re-read the following passage (from Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno) carefully:

“Considering the lawlessness and loneliness of the spot, and the sort of stories, at that day, associated with those seas, Captain Delano’s surprise might have deepened into some uneasiness had he not been a person of a singularly undistrustful good-nature, not liable, except on extraordinary and repeated incentives, and hardly then, to indulge in personal alarms, any way involving the imputation of malign evil in man. Whether, in view of what humanity is capable, such a trait implies, along with a benevolent heart, more than ordinary quickness and accuracy of intellectual perception, may be left to the wise to determine.”

Second, think about the semiotic challenge faced by Don Benito in the story. After Amasa Delano boards the San Dominick, Don Benito must communicate the truth about his captivity to Delano using language and other signs that will be understood by the American, but not by Babo. Don Benito leaves plenty of clues, yet for the longest time–almost until it is too late–Delano fails to “get it.”

What does the story suggest about why it takes Delano so long to finally understand what’s going on? Does his failure have anything to do with his being an American as opposed, say, to a Spaniard? What exactly do you think Melville is trying to suggest in this story? Finally, do you think any of the critical essays in the Norton Critical Edition can help us answer these questions? (Please cite at least one of these readings.)

https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/m/melville/herman/b… – Melville, Benito Cereno

Other stories: McCall, Melville’s Short Novels: selections by Amasa Delano, Herman Melville(On Cannibals), Yvor Winters and Darrel Abel, Frederick Busch, Laurie Robertson-Lorant, C. L. R. James, Glenn Altschuler, Allan Emery, Robert Lowell, Michael Rogin, and Richard Ray

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