Death on Board

754 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Problems with racism in literature

Death On Board

The story of "Benito Cereno" contains a vicious mutiny at sea aboard the San Dominick plotted and carried out by the "valuable [human] freight" (39) - the slaves. Subsequently, this insurrection is veiled in a calculated façade to fool a naïve American captain named Delano who is unable to believe in the "malign evil in man" (37). Delano remains complacent throughout his time on the San Dominick unaware of the many indications suggesting a much more sinister situation engulfing the ship. However, clues throughout the discourse suggest what is occurring via death-filled imagery. The use of imagery associated with death in "Benito Cereno" serves on the periphery as a connection to the violent nature of the ships recent past, and foreshadows future circumstances Delano and Cereno will confront within the story. In addition, when reviewing this focus on death within a broader context, it may symbolically correspond to the prediction of the violent upheaval of classic racist slave ideology within the countries Cereno and Delano represent.

Images of death are used passively in the beginning of the story to attempt to alert the reader of what is actually taking place. The use of frequent imagery of death constructs angst filled feelings within the reader, and the diction when Delano first boards the ship refers directly to what actions take place after death. The slaves are compared to a funeral procession "playing a funeral march" (41), along with the ship moving with a "hearse-like roll of the hull," (40) and captain Cereno being likened to a "skeleton" (43). All suggest the somber surroundings Delano has entered are similar to a cemetery, which denotes past and present death. Paralleling the ship as a fl...

... middle of paper ...

...power when the powerful don't see it coming. History is the link to the past. The death is surrounding the characters and it will soon surround the countries they represent, literally and figuratively, and will spread worldwide.

The recurring theme of death in the background of the story encompasses a figurative notion that slavery envelopes all involved with death when irreverence is shown for human life. Death goes through the transformation from passive to active, like the violence brewing in the parent countries of these two captains. Cereno is shown in the beginning of the story as being a person during the "time of the plague" (48). The plague consuming the ship is slavery expressed through death, and the story warns Delano no to allow this to happen to his vessel (America) either.

Works Cited

1. Melville, Herman. Benito Cereno. Penguin. New York. 1995.

Show More
Related

  • Foreshadowing In Three Dirges

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    A sense of ominous foreboding permeates the woeful passage from "Three Dirges." The conflict is immediately apparant: "Don Lazaro, you've got five boys in Comitan teaching the campesinos how to read. That's subversive. That's communist. So tonight, you have to kill them." Don Lazaro, the mayor of the war torn village, San Martin Comitan, seems to have no choice but to carry out this heartless command. His response is indicative of a desperate man searching for answers, yet already resigned to carrying out the task at hand. "What can I say? --you tell me!" cries an anguished Don Lazaro to the villagers. Is he pleading for their understanding, or asking for a miraculous solution that would alter the path that lay before him? It is this uncertainty that, when coupled with melancholy foreshadowing, leaves the reader at a suspenseful crossroad; suspecting that events are transpiring, but doubtful as to the outcome.

    Read More

  • Melville vs Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    When inquiring about the comparisons and contrasts between Melville’s Benito Cereno and Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of an American Slave, Written by Himself, the following question almost inevitably arises: Can a work of fiction and an autobiography be compared at all? Indeed, the structure of the two stories differs greatly. Whereas Douglass’s Narrative adapts a typical pattern of autobiographies, i.e. a chronological order of birth, childhood memories, events that helped shape the narrator etc., Benito Cereno is based on a peculiar three-layered foundation of a central story recounting the main events, a deposition delineating the events prior to the first part, and an ending.

    Read More

  • The Implementation of Fantasy and its Effects within “The South”

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, Ficciones, a collection of short stories written by Jorge Luis Borges, contains several references to fantastic themes. This especially occurs within the short work, “The South,” in which a man by the name of Juan Dahlmann experiences a whimsical death that portrays his deepest regret: not following his ancestral history to become a cultural gaucho. Borges uses characterization and the implementation of his true reality to depict the ultimate idea that nothing is eternal and one must chase their dreams in order to live a satisfying life and die without being regretful.

    Read More

  • Douglass And Bagbo Analysis

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    Both the “character” of Frederick Douglass in Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and the character of Babo in Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno are, among many things, a tale of heroism. Although there are clear distinctions between Douglass’s autobiography and abolitionist work and Cereno’s fictional work -specifically in terms of how they resisted slavery and to what extent they were successful- both protagonists use their intelligence and strength to overcome their white masters and a society that has subordinated them.

    Read More

  • The Book Thief Foreshadowing

    498 Words  | 1 Pages

    The novel begins with a prologue where Death describes himself. He does not wear a robe or carry a sicle, and he does not enjoy his job. This

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In Victor Hugo's Les Miserables

    1853 Words  | 4 Pages

    Victor Hugo’s fondness for war and destruction is once again put on full display, as the story takes place on a war ship armed with dozens of cannons and loads of ammunition. As a loose canon wreaks havoc aboard the ship, the once contained and inanimate weapon is depicted as “the living chariot of the Apocalypse” (2). Just as the Apocalypse is foretold as the end of days, destined to strike humanity in punishment for its multitudes of sins, the escaped weaponry is also comparative to distributing payment for the sins of the oblivious gunnman; it is because of him that the whole crew is in danger. A machine built for death reduced an entire crew of sailors “accustomed to laugh in time of battle” to a trembling heap at the sight of their murdered kinsmen (2). In a twist of ironic fate, the cannon was punishing them with the very thing they were prepared to dole out to their enemies, death. Trying to right his wrongs, the perpetrator fought the canonic beast himself “in a Titanic scene”, playing what he saw as his rightful role in a deadly “contest between gun and gunner” (3). Hugo describes the scene with exceptional clarity, as all remaining men watched with trepidation as the “gigantic insect of metal, having or

    Read More

  • Themes In Killer Angels

    1455 Words  | 3 Pages

    Death is one of the main themes of the novel, it is a war. Death is going to be something that comes of wars and fighting. The war is filled with many

    Read More

  • Slavery’s Dehumanizing Effects on American Slaves and Slaveholders

    1652 Words  | 4 Pages

    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the physical burdens of slavery that he faced on a daily basis, it was the psychological effects that caused him the greatest amount of detriment during his twenty-year enslavement. In the same regard, Douglass is able to profess that it was not only the slaves who incurred the damaging effects of slavery, but also the slaveholders. Slavery, in essence, is a destructive force that collectively corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves’ intellects.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Mary Oliver's 'When Death Comes'

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the first instance, death is portrayed as a “bear” (2) that reaches out seasonally. This is then followed by a man whom “ comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse / / to buy me…” This ever-changing persona that encapsulates death brings forth a curiosity about death and its presence in the living world. In the second stanza, “measles-pox” (6) is an illness used to portray death’s existence in a distinctive embodiment. This uncertainty creates the illusion of warmth and welcomenesss and is further demonstrated through the reproduction of death as an eminent figure. Further inspection allows the reader to understand death as a swift encounter. The quick imagery brought forth by words such as “snaps” and “shut” provoke a sense of startle in which the audience may dispel any idea of expectedness in death’s coming. This essential idea of apparent arrival transitions to a slower, foreseeable fate where one can imagine the enduring pain experienced “an iceberg between shoulder blades” (line 8). This shift characterizes the constant adaptation in appearance that death acquires. Moreover, the idea of warmth radiating from death’s presence reemerges with the introduction to a “cottage of darkness” (line 10), which to some may bring about a feeling of pleasantry and comfort. It is important to note that line 10 was the sole occurrence of a rhetorical question that the speaker

    Read More

  • Reversing the Master and Slave Role in Benito Cereno

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ns it held. Melville creates a character who never sees the reality on board the ship in his many speculations, particularly because Delano sees the slaves as too ignorant as to be able to devise such a thing, when the grand irony is the he is too blind to see it. Melville reverses the master and slave roles and brings them before a very slavery-conscious audience to whom he leaves the interpretation open, but laden with subtle messages about the horrible institution of slavery.

    Read More

  • Fear Of Death In Don Delillio's White Noise

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    By looking at the story of “white noise, it can be seen that the media is the source of fear of death. This is important because it shows how media shaped what they were afraid of and had the potential to shape what jack and his family thought and how it consumed their identity. One of the major focuses of Don DeLillio's White Noise is death. In this novel DeLillio over emphasizes the concept of death and the fear mankind has of it. He plays on our fear of death and the reality and certainty we have of our own demise.

    Read More

  • Religion In The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” details the story of a cursed mariner, framed in a conversation with a man on his way to a wedding. Rising from Coleridge’s own experience, he ties in various themes exposing the reader to death, consequences of actions, and an interest in the unknown. Coleridge shows his audience the consequences of actions by creating a clear connection between the physical and spiritual world, hoping to show people the importance of preserving and respecting the God given world.

    Read More

  • Death and Dying in Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    Death is, perhaps, the most universal of themes that an author can choose to write of. Death comes to all things; not so love, betrayal, happiness, or suffering. Each death is certain, but each is also unique. In Other Voices, Other Rooms, Truman Capote addresses several deaths, and each is handled in its individual fashion. From the manner of the death to its effect on those it touches, Capote crafts vignettes within the story to give the reader a very different sense of each one.

    Read More

  • Symbolism and Devices in Stephen Crane's The Open Boat

    1931 Words  | 4 Pages

    The story’s theme is related to the reader by the use of color imagery, cynicism, human brotherhood, and the terrible beauty and savagery of nature.  The symbols used to impart this theme to the reader and range from the obvious to the subtle.  The obvious symbols include the time from the sinking to arrival on shore as a voyage of self-discovery, the four survivors in the dinghy as a microcosm of society, the shark as nature’s random destroyer of life, the sky personified as mysterious and unfathomable and the sea as mundane and easily comprehended by humans.  The more subtle symbols include the cigars as representative of the crew and survivors, the oiler as the required sacrifice to nature’s indifference, and the dying legionnaire as an example of how to face death for the correspondent.

    Read More

  • Journey Theme in Whitman’s O Captain! My Captain! and Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theme of a journey is a common metaphor used in poetry. This is no exception in two poems by famous poets of the 19th century: Walt Whitman and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. In Whitman’s poem “O Captain! My Captain!” from his collection Leaves of Grass, he writes of the sorrow over a fallen ship captain coming into the home harbor. Lord Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar” expresses the hopes on the departure of a journey. Both poems use the metaphor of a boat’s trip over the sea as a spiritual journey to death. The poems have many similarities, but also differences that give character to each poem. Each poem is shaped by its imagery, speaker, and emotional invocation. Without such literary devices, the poems would not have such an emotional impact of the reader.

    Read More

More about Death on Board

Open Document