Study Questions for Melvilles "Benito Cereno":

1. Through whose eyes do we view the events in the story? Where in the text
does Melville shift into Delano's point of view? Whose point of view does the
Deposition represent?
2. Why doesn't Melville choose to write the story from a!o's point of view? What
might his purpose !e in confining us to Delano's and later enito "ereno's point of
view? What limitations does this narrative strategy impose on us as readers?
#. $ow relia!le are Delano's perceptions of reality? What tendencies in particular
ma%e him an unrelia!le interpreter of the !ehavior he sees manifested on !oard
the San Dominick?
&. The !est example of how Delano's racism %eeps him from recogni'ing that the
!lac%s have staged a revolt is the episode in which he sees a!o use the flag of
(pain as a !i! for Don enito) !ut misinterprets it as an *odd instance of the
+frican love of !right colors and fine shows.* $ow does that episode originate?
,. What attitude toward slavery does Delano exhi!it? $ow does his attitude differ
from enito "ereno's?
-. Most of the confusion in interpreting *enito "ereno* arises from the latter part
of the story. .t is easy to see that Delano's view of !lac%s as stupid is wrong) !ut
does Melville present enito "ereno's view of !lac%s as a corrective to stereotype)
or merely as another stereotype? Does the Deposition represent the *truth*?
/. $ow does the language of the Deposition differ from the language Melville uses
elsewhere in the text? What ma%es us ta%e it for the *truth*?
0. What is enito "ereno's interpretation of events) as opposed to Delano's initial
interpretation? $ow does he explain the slaves' revolt?
1. Does the Deposition indirectly provide any alternative explanations of why the
!lac%s may have revolted? What does it tell us a!out the !lac%s' actual aims?
$ow do they try to achieve those aims?
12. Does Melville provide any clues to an interpretation of the story that
transcends the racist stereotypes of Delano and "ereno?
11. What is the narrative point of view of the few pages following the Deposition?
$ow do you interpret the dialogue !etween the two captains? Does it indicate that
either Delano or "ereno has undergone any change in consciousness or achieved
a new understanding of slavery as a result of his ordeal?
12. What seems to !e the message of the scene with which the story ends? What
do you thin% Melville was trying to convey through the story? $ow does the story
continue to !e relevant or prophetic?
1#. +rgue that in descri!ing $awthorne's *power of !lac%ness* in his review of
Mosses) Melville was actually characteri'ing his own wor%. 3ocus on *enito
"ereno* in your analysis and consider whether or not Melville focuses on !lac%
slaves as human !eings.
1&. 4ewton +rvin has written a!out *enito "ereno* that *the story is an artistic
miscarriage) with moments of undenia!le power.* 5valuate the fairness of this
statement given your own reading of the story.
1,. .magine a retelling of *enito "ereno* in which a!o !ecomes the hero. What
particular inconsistencies within the story as it stands would the narrator have to
resolve?