Who are the real savages? When Herman Melville wrote “Benito Cereno” he was undoubtedly influenced by the way of the times. In 1855, when the story was first printed, slave owners had but one fear, that their slaves would revolt against them. Whether on America’s southern plantations or a slave trading ship off the coast of Chile, the blacks often out numbered the whites. Perhaps it was this fear that drove Melville to write this …showed first 75 words of 1612 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1612 total…the short novel “Benito Cereno” becomes a literary bash against the blacks. There are many differences between the people who read this Novelia one hundred and fifty years ago, and today, especially as far as their views on slavery. Whatever reasons Melville had, the story was written to keep the slaves in their place, and it was finger after finger of blame pointed at the slaves, when it should have been the other way around.