Benito Cereno

Much of the novel Benito Cereno is comprised of the thinking of Captain Delano. Whenever the action stopped, Herman Melville inserted Delano's analyzations and thoughts about the situation on the San Dominick. I believe Melville does this for two reasons. First to directly establish Delano as a brilliant man (perhaps Melville chose to make Delano's character a ship's captain for this same reason). And second, to indirectly prove that black men are every bit as clever and intelligent as white men. (I believe this argument may have been mentioned in class, but if that is the case, I would like to go more in depth in this post.)
To address the fist part of this claim, let us look at a passage on page 2692 which begins, "What meant this? Something...". Melville writes this passage as Delano's thoughts in response to a strange gesture by one of the Spanish sailors on board the San Dominick. Melville showcases Delano's intelligence and thoughtfulness here by having him pick up on the Spanish sailor's attempt at communication. He then further displays his mindfulness through analyzation of the situation for all possible meanings. Of the characters, Delano is certainly conveyed as the smartest; if anything suspicious was taking place, he should be the man to know of it.
At this point in America's history, to believe that black slaves were equal to whites, especially in the area of intelligence, was unheard of. Yet in this novel, Melville has the slaves fool the most intelligent character, Delano, by keeping their plot under wraps for nearly the entire span of the work. I believe one of Melville's underlying themes in Benito Cereno is the equality of blacks and whites. Even in instances other than this broad example, Melville is constantly mentioning through Delano's character many of the outstanding qualities the slaves posses. Atufal, the slave in chains is noted as behaving "obedient in all else[,] and respectful"(pp 2682). Of Cereno's servant, Babo, Melville writes, "it was now without humane satisfaction that Captain Delano witnessed the steady good conduct of Babo."(pp 2674) Melville portrays black slaves as upstanding people, contrary to the prejudices common in the slave-owning South. I believe Melville, through his writing, intends to convince the world (especially America) of the later realized fact that all men are created equally.

A Turning Point

There seemed to be a moment in "Young Goodman Brown" when the mood of the story completely changed and the reader knew something sinister was afoot. One element Hawthorne utilizes is foreshadowing by masterfully manipulating the mood in order to create suspense and interest the reader. This specific moment, I believe, occurs near the beginning in the passage, "He had taken a dreary road... ...an unseen multitude."(HA 2259) Though this is certainly not the only instance of foreshadowing in this short story, it is one of the first and perhaps most important to the rest of the tale.
Hawthorne employs descriptive adjectives to create an ominous mood while setting up the forest scene with Brown. Phrases like, "dreary road", "darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest", and "lonely footsteps" lend and eerie feel to the scene, suggesting to the reader that everything is not well. Also he makes use of personification to bring about that dismal feeling. The narrow path creeps through the forest, and the trees move as they "close immediately behind". The setting alone is even a rather creepy thought: Alone in a forest at night. Hawthorne's intentional combination of chilling adjectives, devilish personification, and eerie setting create an undoubtedly ominous mood which sets the tone for what troubling things Goodman Brown will encounter throughout his journey.
This foreshadowing is essential to the story for multiple reasons. Hawthorne obviously uses it to draw the reader in and make him/her curious for the resolution, but also this instance of foreshadowing is key in setting up the continuation of the plot. Hawthorne never (until the end) explicitly states who the mysterious man traveling with Brown is or exactly for what "evil purpose" Goodman Brown is making this journey. Though Hawthorne later reveals to the reader bits of information confirming the reader's suspicions of evil doings, this first instance of foreshadowing is critical to conjuring those suspicions. The mood he creates defines the rest of the story and it is what makes this story so appealing to the reader's curiosity.

The Group

In act two, scene three of Warren's play "The Group", I came across a passage that disturbed me at first and begged me to reexamine Warren's purpose in writing it. Hateall, in an exchange with Sylla and Simple, completely slams women and their value as people. In the dialogue beginning with "what's a woman's tears...", Hateall shamelessly takes shots at women reducing them to the value of their dowry. He also exclaims that women should be subservient to their husbands; always listening and never daring to go against their husbands will.
It took me some time to figure out why exactly Warren would include a section so derogatory towards women, and I cannot say I totally understand why. The play seems mostly to be a satire of over zealous men and their misguided reasons for making the decisions they make. If that is the case, then perhaps she is trying to point out an extreme stereotype she noticed men harbored against women. Not that all men were women haters, but that she noticed a trend in some part of the culture and hoped to point it out by taking it to the extreme in a sort of humorous form. Sometimes the only way to talk about a serious issue is through humor, as we've learned from many comedians of today.

It's All About the Benjamins

I find in part three of his Autobiography, that Benjamin Franklin contradicts his own wisdom by proposing a "United Party for Virtue" comprised of "the virtuous and good men of all nations"(Franklin 94). There is no doubt such a party would be very beneficial to the world and mankind, but he is naive to think something like that has a chance to succeed. Why should his party for virtue be any less susceptible to corruption than any other political parties of the day? In my opinion, such an idea is like Communism: it sounds like great, but just doesn't work in the real world. I am confused as to why Franklin would have such a naive proposition not only because of his obvious wisdom, but because his writing gives evidence that he is a God-fearing man. I assume a man as well read and as zealous about religion as Franklin would have taken time to read the Scriptures contained in the Bible. Under that assumption, he should have known that mankind is ultimately corruptible, and that while there are many virtuous men in the Bible, they all have faults. Kind David committed adultery even while he loved God with all his heart. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived even turned away from God during his life. Assuming Franklin had read these recounts of Biblical men, I am confounded to think why he believed he could create an infallible party of virtuous men today.
Maybe it was that he never intended to create such a party in the first place. In thinking over this passage, perhaps Franklin would only write down such an idea to improve his own standing among other men, by presenting himself to the world as a virtuous man, able to judge other men with his "great" wisdom and understanding. It seems to go along with the thread of Franklin appearing to be a bit full of himself owing to his accomplishments and the praise he received for them. It is possible that Franklin did consider the idea, but never intended to see it fulfilled and merely wrote about it to impress others. It is impossible to know the intentions of Franklin's heart at the time he wrote this, but much of the evidence in his Autobiography seems to point to his desire to be internationally famous and well respected and admired. Writing in his memoirs about such a noble idea he himself envisioned seems to me a part of his method of acquiring his ambitions.