Benito Cereno: Book Analysis
Benito Cereno
In the book Benito Cereno, Babo shown in two different lights. Some see him as a heroic leader while others see him as weak keeping his intellect in the shadows. Throughout the book Cereno is pushed around by Babo. It takes time for Delano to understand what is happening on the ship but once he does the whole outcome of the story is shifted. Babo is a character in Benito Cereno that carried out a slave revolt on the ship. He is able to overcome his leader Benito Cereno and maintain full captainship of the boat. Babo is a hero, he saves a ship of black slaves setting them free. Babo and all the unspoken slaves on the ship choose freedom and the possibility of death, rather than a life of slavery. Throughout the story Babo masquerades around pretending to be Cerenos loyal slave, however, we find out in the conclusion of the book that he was playing Delano all along. Throughout the book Delano is given clues as to the fact that Babo ultimately has all the power on the ship, but he is not a very wise character and doesn't put the pieces together that Babo is insane. Babo "What has cast such a shadow upon you" "The Negro." This quotes shows how racist the people were at this time and that they referred to Babo as "The Negro". Throughout the story pretends as though he is benefiting Cereno however he is not at all really he is controlling him to do whatever Babo wants him to be doing. A major scene that depicted the fact that Babo was evil was when Babo was shaving Cerenos face. "You must not shake so, master...” The reason the Cereno is shaking so is because he is so scared of the fact that Babo will purposefully cut Cereno. "Only the sour heart that sour sickness breeds made [Cereno] serve Babo so; cutting Babo with the razor". This is another example of how Cereno was put under such fear of being cut. Babo is a character of many colors. Some see him to be a hero, while others see Babo as a character that is weak, ugly and trying to
In the book Benito Cereno, Babo shown in two different lights. Some see him as a heroic leader while others see him as weak keeping his intellect in the shadows. Throughout the book Cereno is pushed around by Babo. It takes time for Delano to understand what is happening on the ship but once he does the whole outcome of the story is shifted. Babo is a character in Benito Cereno that carried out a slave revolt on the ship. He is able to overcome his leader Benito Cereno and maintain full captainship of the boat. Babo is a hero, he saves a ship of black slaves setting them free. Babo and all the unspoken slaves on the ship choose freedom and the possibility of death, rather than a life of slavery. Throughout the story Babo masquerades around pretending to be Cerenos loyal slave, however, we find out in the conclusion of the book that he was playing Delano all along. Throughout the book Delano is given clues as to the fact that Babo ultimately has all the power on the ship, but he is not a very wise character and doesn't put the pieces together that Babo is insane. Babo "What has cast such a shadow upon you" "The Negro." This quotes shows how racist the people were at this time and that they referred to Babo as "The Negro". Throughout the story pretends as though he is benefiting Cereno however he is not at all really he is controlling him to do whatever Babo wants him to be doing. A major scene that depicted the fact that Babo was evil was when Babo was shaving Cerenos face. "You must not shake so, master...” The reason the Cereno is shaking so is because he is so scared of the fact that Babo will purposefully cut Cereno. "Only the sour heart that sour sickness breeds made [Cereno] serve Babo so; cutting Babo with the razor". This is another example of how Cereno was put under such fear of being cut. Babo is a character of many colors. Some see him to be a hero, while others see Babo as a character that is weak, ugly and trying to