Topic > The image of Captain Delano in the book 'Benito Cereno'

Benito Cereno is a story written by Herman Melville that follows the events of Captain Delano. While his cargo ship is anchored, he sees a mysterious unflagged vessel that appears to be in distress and decides to offer his help. He discovers that this mysterious vessel is a Spanish slave ship under the command of Captain Cereno. They are in a dire state because they experienced a scurvy epidemic, then a storm, which led to them losing rations of food, water and crew members. The twist at the end of the story is that the slaves on the ship rebelled and killed most of the crew, taking command of the ship. Captain Delano's perception of the unnatural situation was influenced by the false illusions that the slave Babo created to hide the truth, demonstrating how eager the mind is to satisfy social constructs to avoid cognitive conflicts. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Throughout the story, Captain Delano judges everything and everyone according to his perception of a normal standard. He believes that blacks are devoid of intelligence, so he constantly overlooks the slave ship's anomalies. He has his own idea of ​​what a captain should be and even blames the captain for the sorry state of the ship. “In nature itself, nothing relaxes good order more than poverty. However, Captain Delano was not without the idea that if Benito Cereno had been a man of greater energy, bad government would hardly have reached its present point.” If it had been his ship, he would have thought of better ideas to support the crew and not have to rely on slaves to operate the ship. He recognizes Captain Cereno as a disappointment for letting hardship dismantle the hierarchy of authority. Captain Delano's focus on hierarchy and convention distracts him from understanding the true situation on the ship. Pay more attention to Captain Cereno's mood swings and temper than to warning signs of impending danger. He notices that the white people on the slave ship are a little suspicious when they give him suggestions and are mistreated by the slaves, but he dismisses it with any silly explanations. «It was Don Benito's reserve that displeased him; but the same reserve was shown towards everyone except his personal assistant.” A captain is supposed to show concern for everything that happens on his boat, but Babo was the only one who received the captain's attention. Captain Delano also interprets this in his own way to adapt it to his own moral perception of the situation. Being thoughtful and a natural optimist, Captain Delano lacks foresight and misjudges what he sees. “As the master and the man stood before him, the black supporting the white, Captain Delano could not help but think back to the beauty of that relationship which could offer such a show of loyalty on the one hand and trust on the other". He is confident in himself as a morally correct man and captain, so he analyzes the relationship between Captain Cereno and Babo in a friendly view. Despite the obvious indication that Captain Cereno was scared and followed Babo's signals, this is seen as kindness on the part of a slave and compassion for his master. This slightly absolves Captain Delano's suspicions about the conditions on the ship and prevents him from realizing that Babo is the only one truly in command. It took a dramatic episode for Captain Delano to finally open his eyes and see reality for what it is rather than what it is. wants to believe. "At that moment, through Captain Delano's long-darked mind, a flash of revelation passed, illuminating with a clear.