Slaves: Masterminds or Hopeless Captives

By: Justin Mahmud

 Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno is a tale which

illustrates the story of one group of slaves who

wanted to change their fates.  The path of these

slaves throughout history was clear.  Slaves on board

any type of a ship usually, no always, meant that they

were being shipped from one nation to another nation. 

They were treated no better than merchandise or goods.

 Slaves were considered to be of no equivalence to the

white man which was supposed to justify their

treatment.  This however was not the case in Benito

Cereno because the slaves were very intelligent and

were led by Babo, who may be the most intelligent

character in the whole story.  This idea demonstrates

Herman Melville’s belief of the possibilities of what

may have occurred if slaves were educated on any

level.  This transportation of slaves changed the way

America handled commerce and trade of slaves

completely. 

               Herman Melville chooses Captain Amasa Delano as the

narrator and voice throughout the story.  Captain

Delano was captain of the Bachelor’s Delight whaling

ship in 1799 of Massachusetts.  He and his crew were

traveling along the coast of Chile.  This is where he

first sights the “stranger” ship which was San

Dominick.  It was a ship believed to belong to a

Spanish merchantman.  The Spanish were a group who

were heavily involved in slave trade.  Captain Delano

had originally believed this was a ship of distress

and set out to see if it was in need of help.  Once

there, he saw that it held Negro slaves which were

going to be traded, most likely to be part of the

transatlantic slave trade.

               While on board the San Dominick, Captain Delano

discovers a line under the canvas which stated “sequid

vuestro jefe,” which meant follow your leader.  This

line held a very symbolic meaning at the end of the

story.  While on board, Captain Delano observed a

horrible sight of suffering slaves (so it seems).  The

conditions these slaves had to endure were terrible. 

The ship was lacking of water and supply and had a

scarcity of food.  Melville emphasizes the poor and

unlivable conditions that slaves were issued during

their transportation.  It is due to such conditions

that Melville believes should be evidence to stop the

immoral slave trade.  Captain Delano became somewhat

angry of who could captain such a ship until he

actually met the captain, Captain Benito Cereno.  He

was in a terrible condition and seemed to be sick.  He

was accompanied by a slave servant named Babo, who was

the slave mastermind behind the revolt on the ship. 

At this point, however this was a situation unknown to

Delano. 

               Here Melville created the sense of curiosity and

wonderment in the mind of Captain Delano.  He began to

question Captain Benito on the first of many occasions

as to what actually occurred on the ship.  This was an

example of the repetition used by Melville.  Benito

described the ship as being blown off course towards

Lima by strong winds (from Buenos Aires).  Before he

could finish he would break out in a series of coughs.

 This was very suspicious and noted by Delano,

although this and other incidents (anytime Delano

would question sailors or Benito, Babo would find a

way to interfere or interrupt the discussion.)  Delano

would assume it was nothing, Melville decided on doing

this because it showed the slaves intelligence and

manipulation of stories which managed to fool a ship

owner. 

               This was all apart of Babo’s master plan.  Babo

maintained a secret identity as a slave servant to

Benito when in fact he and his fellow slaves were in

control of the ship after a successful slave

rebellion.  The rebellion was bound to occur and did

occur because they wanted to end the harsh treatment

of slaves in this way and they wanted to stop this

continuance of the slave trade.  Babo and his fellow

slaves such as Atufal took it upon themselves to

change their fate.  Babo created the entire story of

what happened to the ship for Benito to tell Delano in

hopes of lacking control of his ship.  This is an

example used by Melville to show what would happen if

slaves were educated and what they could theoretically

do.  This whole thing was not discovered by Delano

until the very last moment when Benito jumped onto

Delano’s ship and Babo followed with a blade but was

held back by Delano’s men.  Soon after the canvas was

dropped and it revealed the skeleton of the slaves’

master and owner Alexandro Arando which underneath

stated follow your leader.  This was done in order to

instill fear in the slave holding ships.  Such a

masterful plan created by the slaves raises the

question of how why Melville chooses to use slaves as

the masterminds of the situation.  It may be due to

Melville’s personal views and beliefs of slavery. 

These accounts clearly show Melville’s position

against slavery through means of poor conditions.  The

plan by Babo also demonstrates Melville’s belief of

the inevitable situation with slavery.  He believes

that with the continuance of the slave trade will come

violent slave rebellions and other forms of slave

uprisings.  It is instances and similarities like this

which have shaped American’s laws of trade and

commerce with compromises such as the Compromise of

1850, which discontinued the importation of slaves.