Theme Of Slavery In Benito Cereno

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Recommended: Racism in literature

In Benito Cereno, Melville is specific in his depiction and symbolism of each of the main characters. The target group of the essay was the white northerner who is generally against slavery, but does not care to take action. Captain Delano is the perfect character to represent this target group, and the story was told primarily from Delano’s perspective. It is clear throughout the story that Delano is somewhat against slavery, but does believe that blacks are of lesser intelligence and incapable of being in cahoots with Cereno; therefore, he is racist. Melville uses the story as an omen to white northerners that slaves are capable of great things, and that northerners must change their attitude toward the root cause of slavery: racism. Almost …show more content…

This is meant to make northerners consider their ideologies towards the treatment of blacks during the time. When Delano says “This slavery breeds ugly passions in man,” (191) it shows that he does believe slavery is wrong. On the San Dominick, slavery leads to the slave revolt. This then leads to the capture and killing of the slaves at the end of the story. Each act of violence leads to the next. If slavery was not in place, then maybe none of this violence would occur. The issue is that there is a missing piece. Slavery is caused by something less directly violent, but equally as evil: racism. Through Delano, Melville shows how northerners are still racist, having negative stigmas about the role of blacks in society. In this way, it is clear that even if blacks were freed from slavery, they would still suffer the consequences of racism. Thus, Melville calls for white northerners to look more closely at the poor treatment of blacks in the country. White northerners may have believed that slavery was wrong, but they were still racist. Today, many argue that blacks still suffer from the consequences of racism, even hundreds of years after the emancipation of slavery. Due to the same preconceptions, blacks are at a disadvantage in education, incarceration rates, income, and other ways today. Hence, racism is truly the root of the problem: even hundreds of years removed from slavery, blacks still feel the effects of

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