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An essay on reconstruction and its failure
Issue of reconstruction
Issues addressed in reconstruction
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Herman Melville is known greatly in the world of literature for his enigmatic works, such as "Bartleby the Scrivener", and "Benito Cereño". His complex plot and unique character personalities make his works both interesting and compelling. In "Benito Cereño", we are introduced to the narrator Captain Delano as he and his crew encounter the ship, the San Dominick, in need of assistance. Upon climbing aboard he meets Captain Cereño along with is crew and slaves, and is informed of their unfortunate events has left the ship without supplies. However, Captain Delano is not aware of what is actually going on behind the fake story he is told. The slaves aboard are the ones in charge holding the Spaniards hostage and forcing them to take them back to Africa. Throughout the story the narrators suspicious rises but is never investigated therefore saving his life and the life of Captain Cereño. Captain Delano dismissed his suspicions because he believes the slaves are stupid, cannot organize, and know their place, but this text is a notice or warning to slave owners in the south, and involved with the Trans-Atlantic trade slave trade. The underestimation of the slaves ability can lead to the down fall of many if not taken seriously. Originally the non-fictional basis of this text is on the memoir of the once alive Amasa Delano who wrote of a slave revolt on the Spanish ship Tryall. While "Benito Cereño" is a strong and entertaining story of a slave revolt on a Spanish ship, one may not see the message Melville may be trying to express to his readers. Published in 1855, the United States on the brink of the Civil War with the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, this story speaks the horror and nightmare many abolitionist feared may happen if the s... ... middle of paper ... ...derstand the history behind the story, and how it can interpreted in many different ways because of it's enigmatic plot, and characters. Works Cited Traister, Bryce. "Terrorism Before The Letter: Benito Cereno And The 9/11 Commission Report." Canadian Review Of American Studies 43.1 (2013): 23-47.MasterFILE Elite. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. Welsh, Howard. "The Politics of Race in 'Benito Cereno'." American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography 46.4 (1975): 556-66. ProQuest. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. Yellin, Jean F. "Black Masks: Melville's 'Benito Cereno'." American Quarterly 22 (1970): (678)-89. ProQuest. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. Nixon, Nicola. "Men and Coats; Or, the Politics of the Dandiacal Body in Melville's 'Benito Cereno'." PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 114.3 (1999): 359-72. ProQuest. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
...al of black life are the views shared by the majority of Americans. Their views on this portrayal of blacks in America can be summed up in a quote taken from Melville's Benito Cereno, "We will see what the American...wanted to see: the head of the Negro 'fixed on a pole in the Plaza" (27).
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.
At the turn of the 18th century, the confines of multipurpose commercial ships fostered divergent enactments of patriarchal control on the oceanic peripheries of Latin America and the Caribbean. In particular, the Spanish vessel San Dominick served as a symbolic battleground between white superiority and black subversion, the fiercely republican United States of America and the weakening Spanish Empire. Covering historical and thematic distances, Herman Melville narrates and Greg Grandin analyzes this ship’s tale to engage readers as the white seamen Amasa Delano and Benito Cereno fear for their safety against the ship’s black majority on the unpatrolled, stormy seas. On board the San Dominick, Melville and Grandin illustrate that socio-political conceptualizations of patriarchy and liberty extended from
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick (Norton Critical Edition, 2nd Ed.). Parker, Hershel and Hayford Harrison (Eds.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. (2002).
1970, pp. 7-8. Rpt. In The Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism. New York.:Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.
Melville has an interesting way of conveying his ideas about slavery into Benito Cereno. One way in which he does so is through Captain Delano. Throughout a good portion of the story Delano is incapable of discovering the truth. Most specifically, about the situation that lay in front of him on the St. Dominic. Delano cannot even conceive of the idea that the slaves on board the ship were in the driver’s seat, as far as power is concerned. For instance, after Cereno gives the background story concerning the ship, Delano claims, “the Spaniard 's manner while telling the story. There was a gloomy hesitancy and subterfuge about it” (Melville 1145). His suspicion always lies with the Spaniards. In fact, it took Delano nearly the whole story to
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.
The betrayal of Jesus serves as an important Biblical allusion in Benito Cereno. In the beginning of this novella, Delano still doubts whether Cereno is dangerous or not. He says, “Or was the Spaniard less hardened than the Jew, who refrained not from supping at the board of him whom the same night he meant to betray?” (70). In this quote, Delano asks himself if Cereno will betray him that night, but also asks if Cereno has more restraint than Judas. Here, Melville uses the betrayal of Jesus to show not only Delano’s ignorance, but to represent the bond that has grown between the two men during their short time together. In Delano’s perspective, Cereno’s strange behavior and their respect towards each other are signs that something is amiss. Delano believes, incorrectly, that the out of place happenings on the ship are due to an imminent betrayal by Cereno. Demonstrated again is Delano’s ignorance as represented by his isolation from the real world. Delano’s limited knowledge of slavery, because he is from the north, causes him to buy into the terrible stereotypes against Africans, which is an evil unto
In a very powerful portion of this writing, Equiano speaks directly to his audience in an attempt to open their eyes to slavery and the pain it causes. He uses pathos appeals to make them understand the pain and suffering brought on by the destruction of families and separation of countrymen. Every rhetorical question he asks makes a powerful statement which he summarizes to the point that, “Surely this is a new refinement in cruelty, which, while it has no advantage to atone for it, thus aggravates distress, and adds fresh horrors even to the wretchedness of slavery” (Equiano 96). He forces his audience to question their own motives for slavery and calls to attention that there is no logic in tearing families apart for one’s personal
Laskowski, Gene L. Masculine Sentimentality in the Early Novels of Herman Melville. Diss. University of Michigan, 1993. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1993. Print.
In conclusion, it is hard to grasp the true meaning of the story unless the story is read a second time because of the author's style of writing.
Melville and Hemingway portray their characters as polar opposites from one another. While Captain Ahab is a cold and often cruel manipulator who’s obsessive ways lead to his and most of his crew’s demise, while Santiago is seen as a kind hearted old man who sets out for one last grand adventure to change his luck and relive the glory he had years earlier. Both excellently portray both sides of the spectrum between selfish obsession and the need for one last great adventure as felt by each character in the novels.
The ocean not only engulfs two‑thirds of the earth but two‑thirds of Moby Dick; a literary space penned by Herman Melville which sweeps the reader in its ever‑elusive eddies of symbolic complexity. The symbolism in the novel ceaselessly ebbs and flows like the sea, submerging the reader into Melville’s imaginative sea voyage. This paper will examine the watery depths as a recognizable setting from the corporeal universe, further observing how Melville juxtaposes this element in such a peculiar way, that the reader has no choice but to abandon, “reason, tradition, belief, and rely solely on thought to interpret these images,” which accordingly creates an “opportunity for open imagination” (Glover, 2003:42) (Bachelard,1983: 22). From beginning
...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.
Santiago went through many turmoil’s in his life and his story is one of wisdom in defeat from the lengthy time of which he could not catch anything to that of his loss of the marlin to the sharks after such a lengthy battle to catch it then attempt to bring it back to shore. Now I could go on and on like any other paper about all the symbolism in The Old Man and the Sea but no matter what I did while reading it, in almost every aspect it screamed out to me as an impersonation or reflection of Hemingway’s own life in a multitude of ways that no one can deny. The Old Man and the Sea was an allegory referring to the Hemingway’s own struggles to preserve his writing i...