Benito CerenoEssay Preview: Benito CerenoReport this essayIn 1799, while harbored in the island of St. Maria near Chile, Captain Amasa Delano, Massachusetts-born skipper of the Bachelors Delight, spots an odd vessel and decides to investigate. Upon approaching the ship, Delano notices that it is in very bad condition, that the figurehead has been covered up as though for repairs, and that the boat is being manned erratically. A closer look only increases the oddness: the majority of people on the boat, which is called the San Dominick, are black.
Delano boards the San Dominick to find abundant disarray. The whites and blacks mill together aimlessly, and there is only the slightest hint of order. Four “grizzled” elderly black men, perched at each of the four corners of the deck, watch over the throng while picking oakum. Also, six black men sit together on the stairwell leading to the poop and sharpen hatchets. Perturbed by the appearance of things, Delano seeks out the captain of the San Dominick, the pale and distracted Benito Cereno.
After Delano has sent his whaleboat back to the Bachelors Delight to retrieve provisions and riggings for the floundering San Dominick, he and Cereno begin to talk about the events that led to the San Dominicks obvious misfortune. Cereno tells Delano of a cruel combination of violent storms followed by disease-filled calms, which carried away a great proportion of his crew over the course of nine months or so. He says that the blacks Delano sees are slaves, once the property of Don Alexandro Aranda, who died in the course of the San Dominicks misfortunes. All the while, Cereno is attended upon by an extremely officious slave named Babo.
While Cereno tells Delano his miserable history, Delano notices several mysterious events on board the San Dominick. He witnesses the blacks on board the boat taking great liberties with the whites, and when he brings this up to Cereno, his concerns are flippantly dismissed. Cerenos apparent lack of concern for the behavior of his slaves is contradicted, however, by the appearance of a mighty black man named Atufal, who, due to some offence against Cereno, is forced to bear chains and appear before his captain every other hour until he begs pardon. Delano finds this treatment ghastly, but his naturally optimistic outlook on things attempts to smooth away any contradictions he may see.
Meanwhile, Cereno and Babo begin to confer privately, a very unusual and grievous affront to the normal conduct of captains. Cereno returns from these conferences with uncomfortable questions about the state of Delanos arsenal and cargo aboard the Bachelors Delight. Delano begins to suspect that Cereno is not a Spanish captain at all, but an imposter. However, once again his sunny disposition prevails.
Uncomfortable with Babo and Cerenos behavior, Delano takes a turn about the ship, only to see still more unusual behavior. He witnesses another black-on-white assault, which Cereno again ignores. Delano also finds himself the center of attention for several of the old Spanish sailors on board, one of whom appears to make obscure signals to him from the shadows of the anchor chain and another of whom hands him a very complicated knot, saying, “Cut it.” However, for every odd occurrence, Delano witnesses something that cheers him up. He looks with approval upon the slave women tending their babies; he admires the submissive behavior of Babo towards Cereno. (His admiration for the slaves is always condescending and racist.)
Delano is forced to act out a plan, though in the end he manages to convince his superiors to change their course. He calls a meeting of his newly formed group of fellow officers in which each of the slaves and Babo beamed him up to the ship, and Delano gives in in the end to his most profound satisfaction, as he has found the truth for himself: to his dismay Babo has gone all-out in attacking the crew and himself, and if they remain, Babo will soon be dead. He leaves Cereno with almost certain knowledge that a coup d’état has been going on, and he demands it be reported to his superiors if they believe that he has committed any crimes. Cereno refuses, and as he is unable to give up his war against the Spanish, he makes preparations to murder Delano and Cereno. He goes inside the ship and confronts his master’s mother, a man who has been killed while boarding, who is looking for a way back through, and who is apparently planning an escape through a safe, but difficult place. He leaves them behind and goes to meet him on the horizon with the ship. Cereno looks on and with a smile. He finds Delano’s body in a remote mountainous desert that he believes he has somehow been rescued. To Delano he gives him a small piece of paper containing the “MILITARY’S EXPECTATIONS” and the time and date of her disappearance. Cereno looks upon the report to Delano, and in spite of his enthusiasm for the new plan to find a way to get back to Mexico, does not get it. He goes on returning to Texas where this plan is not on his mind and is later interrupted by the news that his old master is alive. He apologizes to her, but is soon brought back to Mexico by his newly adopted parents. Deceretes are no longer permitted for the time being, although one of the ship’s officers agrees to pay Delano a $25,000 bribe to tell him the truth and he reveals that he himself is responsible for the deception to Delano. Delano is sent to the United States as a spy, and there he meets a new group of men who he meets by the names of Darrin and Marquis, who are looking for a way back out of Texas. They kidnap and kill Delano and his family, while they go to get him. The plot ends when Cereno, looking upon the plan as a failure, is arrested, placed under prison watch, stripped of his crown, his body is dumped, and placed in an old shack in a desert in northern Mexico. He was taken in handcuffs and eventually turned into a drug lord while in Mexico while in the United States.
Notes
1 Delano’s description is given in
Delano is forced to act out a plan, though in the end he manages to convince his superiors to change their course. He calls a meeting of his newly formed group of fellow officers in which each of the slaves and Babo beamed him up to the ship, and Delano gives in in the end to his most profound satisfaction, as he has found the truth for himself: to his dismay Babo has gone all-out in attacking the crew and himself, and if they remain, Babo will soon be dead. He leaves Cereno with almost certain knowledge that a coup d’état has been going on, and he demands it be reported to his superiors if they believe that he has committed any crimes. Cereno refuses, and as he is unable to give up his war against the Spanish, he makes preparations to murder Delano and Cereno. He goes inside the ship and confronts his master’s mother, a man who has been killed while boarding, who is looking for a way back through, and who is apparently planning an escape through a safe, but difficult place. He leaves them behind and goes to meet him on the horizon with the ship. Cereno looks on and with a smile. He finds Delano’s body in a remote mountainous desert that he believes he has somehow been rescued. To Delano he gives him a small piece of paper containing the “MILITARY’S EXPECTATIONS” and the time and date of her disappearance. Cereno looks upon the report to Delano, and in spite of his enthusiasm for the new plan to find a way to get back to Mexico, does not get it. He goes on returning to Texas where this plan is not on his mind and is later interrupted by the news that his old master is alive. He apologizes to her, but is soon brought back to Mexico by his newly adopted parents. Deceretes are no longer permitted for the time being, although one of the ship’s officers agrees to pay Delano a $25,000 bribe to tell him the truth and he reveals that he himself is responsible for the deception to Delano. Delano is sent to the United States as a spy, and there he meets a new group of men who he meets by the names of Darrin and Marquis, who are looking for a way back out of Texas. They kidnap and kill Delano and his family, while they go to get him. The plot ends when Cereno, looking upon the plan as a failure, is arrested, placed under prison watch, stripped of his crown, his body is dumped, and placed in an old shack in a desert in northern Mexico. He was taken in handcuffs and eventually turned into a drug lord while in Mexico while in the United States.
Notes
1 Delano’s description is given in
Delano is forced to act out a plan, though in the end he manages to convince his superiors to change their course. He calls a meeting of his newly formed group of fellow officers in which each of the slaves and Babo beamed him up to the ship, and Delano gives in in the end to his most profound satisfaction, as he has found the truth for himself: to his dismay Babo has gone all-out in attacking the crew and himself, and if they remain, Babo will soon be dead. He leaves Cereno with almost certain knowledge that a coup d’état has been going on, and he demands it be reported to his superiors if they believe that he has committed any crimes. Cereno refuses, and as he is unable to give up his war against the Spanish, he makes preparations to murder Delano and Cereno. He goes inside the ship and confronts his master’s mother, a man who has been killed while boarding, who is looking for a way back through, and who is apparently planning an escape through a safe, but difficult place. He leaves them behind and goes to meet him on the horizon with the ship. Cereno looks on and with a smile. He finds Delano’s body in a remote mountainous desert that he believes he has somehow been rescued. To Delano he gives him a small piece of paper containing the “MILITARY’S EXPECTATIONS” and the time and date of her disappearance. Cereno looks upon the report to Delano, and in spite of his enthusiasm for the new plan to find a way to get back to Mexico, does not get it. He goes on returning to Texas where this plan is not on his mind and is later interrupted by the news that his old master is alive. He apologizes to her, but is soon brought back to Mexico by his newly adopted parents. Deceretes are no longer permitted for the time being, although one of the ship’s officers agrees to pay Delano a $25,000 bribe to tell him the truth and he reveals that he himself is responsible for the deception to Delano. Delano is sent to the United States as a spy, and there he meets a new group of men who he meets by the names of Darrin and Marquis, who are looking for a way back out of Texas. They kidnap and kill Delano and his family, while they go to get him. The plot ends when Cereno, looking upon the plan as a failure, is arrested, placed under prison watch, stripped of his crown, his body is dumped, and placed in an old shack in a desert in northern Mexico. He was taken in handcuffs and eventually turned into a drug lord while in Mexico while in the United States.
Notes
1 Delano’s description is given in
Delano catches sight of his whaleboat returning with provisions, the sight of which cheers him considerably. Meanwhile, his feelings about Benito Cereno continue to oscillate. Cerenos story does not fit together entirely; even given the unprecedented calms and storms he says he suffered, it is impossible that Cerenos boat should still be so near its port of departure nearly a year after sailing. Cereno evades Delanos attempts to address these questions; however, optimism prevails, as usual, and he accompanies Cereno to the Spaniards afternoon shave. Babo shaves