Melville 7/17/09

At first I found Herman Melville's "Benito Cereno" to be really frustrating and difficult to read. For most of the story, the reader is left in the dark. Then at the very end, the reader is given the explanation for so much questioning. The ending is very good, I thought. It really rewards you for reading through the confusing material given before. The best part was to go back and find the hints, almost like putting the pieces in a puzzle. There were many events that hinted at what would happen later. Many clues showing evidence that "everything isn't as it seems". "He [Captain Delano] inquired how it was that the scurvy and fever should have committed such wholesale havoc upon the whites, while destroying less than half of the blacks." This hint asks the reader, if there was really a huge storm that damaged the ship and wasted so many lives, how come the whites were affected way more harshly than the slaves? "Although the scene was somewhat peculiar, at least to Captain Delano, nor, as he saw the two thus postured, could he resist the vagary, that in the black he saw a headsman, and in the white, a man at the block." Delano is viewing the servant and Don Benito in their respective postures, though they pass if off as if Babo is controlling Cereno. These hints really enlighten the reader after reading through the story once already. This story should be read twice to really understand what was going on.