Melville, ''Benito Cereno'' -- Jerz EL312 (Literary Criticism)
"Master wouldn't part with Babo for a thuosdan doubloons," murmured the black, overhearing the offer, and taking in earnest, and with the strange vanity of a faithful slave, appreciated by his master, scorning to hear so paltry a valuation put upon him by a stranger. But Don Benito, apparently hardly yet completely restored, and again interrupted by his cough, made but some broken reply."
This story was very difficult to read, not only because it was incredibly boring, but because I wanted to just shake Don Benito and make him trust and take action on his instincts. Its fine that he ignored his first suspicions, but to go through the whole story and ignore them!!!
Posted by GinaBurgese at January 29, 2007 9:46 PM | TrackBackGina,
You found "Benito Cereno" boring? You mean you don't like being tortured by a tedious, pointless, tansparent narrative? Come on, give Melville a break, he was desperately trying to establish a new world's record for the number of commas used in a single literary work.
Posted by: Dave Moio at January 31, 2007 5:24 PMGina, I totally agree with you. Not only did I want to shake Benito, I wanted to shake Delano for staying on board and trying to help out this ship full of total, crazy strangers.
However, I feel that Benito really couldn't take action on his instincts because I think Babo had control over him.
Personally, I was all about shaking Melville for even writing this but...that's not really possible, since he's dead. I'd like to say I got some deep literary meaning out of it but aside from the few surface things anyone could pick out, I don't have much.
Posted by: Nessa at January 31, 2007 10:38 PMWhen I first read the story, I thought Delano was stupid for sending his friendly boat away again after it came back with supplies the first time.
The pace of this story is certainly not what we expect in a present-day thriller, but on another thread several students were talking about how, in the rush to the destination, we overlook the importance of the journey.
We'll have plenty of time to go deeper into this story as the semester progresses. I'm looking forward to what you'll have to say about it.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at February 1, 2007 12:39 AMHi Gina;
Will keep on top of blogs and give my comments at the end.
Love You..Uncle Sammy
Hi Gina;
Will keep on top of blogs and give my comments at the end.
Love You..Uncle Sammy
Hi Gina;
Will keep on top of blogs and give my comments at the end.
Love You..Uncle Sammy
Hi Gina;
That was very good will keep on top of other blogs and give my comments at the end.
Love You..Uncle Sammy