Melville's Message

Melville uses Captain Amasa Delano to portray antebellum societies’ underestimation of African-American slaves. In "Benito Cereno," Captain Delano believes that Captain Don Benito has conspired to murder him, when in actuality; the slaves have overthrown Spanish control of the boat. The evidence for this overthrow is overwhelming. For example, Delano notices as he doles out water that there is no distinction between the amount and elderly white man receives and the amount a young black boy receives. This equality should spark some kind of curiosity about why there is a lack of propriety between the whites and the slaves. Another peculiarity which should spark Delano’s curiosity is the slaves who sharpen axes continuously without restraint. This extensive trust that Captain Benito has put in the slaves should suggest that Captain Benito may not be in control. In the midst of this evidence, Delano fails to realize what is really happening on the ship, because he wouldn’t ever expect the Negroes to be able to accomplish such a feat. Thus, Melville uses Delano to express the possible problems associated with the antebellum societies’ nonchalant attitude towards Negroes. Nevertheless, Melville does not point his finger at Delano for failing to recognize the situation, but he uses this to exalt the chief antagonist of the story, Babo. Babo essentially holds the façade together by acting as a dedicated servant in order to monitor Don Benito’s interaction with Delano. Babo gives such as stellar performance as a dedicated slave, that Delano even jokingly suggests that he would like to buy Babo from Benito. The court hearing elaborates further on Babo and his intelligent action as the chief mutineer. For example, when the ship approaches the harbor which they expected to be empty but holds Delano’s boat as well, Babo is quick to cover the skeleton on deck with a sheet and disguise it as a repair and fabricate the story about how they have reached their current situation. Babo is also responsible for keeping their façade under cover for so long. For example, Babo coincidently cuts Don Benito right when Captain Delano is inquiring about the amount of time it took for them to get to the harbor; which would have revealed the mutiny. Essentially, Melville uses Babo as a symbol for potential African-American leadership and intelligence, because in the story, Babo outsmarts two white captains who are both unable to do anything about the situation due to Babo’s intervention. Through Babo, Melville suggests that the antebellum society would do well not to underestimate African-Americans.