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.