Aboard The San Dominick — A Hotbed of Turmoil

Nabeel Quryshi
Jul 28, 2017 · 7 min read

Deceit is denoted as the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth. A common corollary of this cunning action is that of fear. Although these two detrimental components can be stimulated independently, the interplay between these exploitations augments the efficacy of any desired manipulation with fear often being initiated downstream of deceit.

Within Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno, the time period the novella is set in adds to the effectiveness of both the facade directed at Captain Delano as well towards the terror Don Benito experiences due to Babo’s manipulation. Benito Cereno is set in an era where slavery was vividly rampant and persons of color were looked upon as inherently inferior. Don Benito is accosted with the fear of comprehending the fact that their previous societal roles have now switched. Instead of Don Benito assuming superiority over Babo, he is instead following his new leader and in turn mimicking the recurring motif of follow your leader. Captain Delano falsely witnesses both a man of color and a European seaman interacting harmoniously. Consequently, his specific threshold of suspicion is surpassed and therefore he does not actively and aggressively pursue the truth behind Babo’s blanket of deceit.
Through his cunning deceit, Babo inflicts physical and mental fear upon Don Benito and therefore embodies a blanket of invisible internal conflict that shrouds the rebellious charade aboard the San Dominick. Babo’s deviousness exploits Delano’s uni-faceted cultural worldview as well as his inability to recognize of the darker relation between Babo and Don Benito.

An undisguised medium for the spread of deceit aboard the San Dominick is the coughing fits of Don Benito. Babo blatantly manipulates Don Benito while Delano is on board and uses the coughing fits as a security device to make sure Don Benito does not reveal the true inner relations of the hijacked slave vessel. In conjunction, the coughing fits occur at moments where Don Benito is at risk to reveal more than he should. In one scene, Don Benito details the previous storm the boat encounters and describes it as a severe detriment to the health of the vessel when he experiences one of his coughing fits: “Here there was a sudden fainting attack of his cough, brought on, no doubt by his mental distress” (60). Babo playing the part of a faithful servant “encircled his master, at the same time keeping his eye fixed on his face, as if to watch for the first sign of complete restoration, or relapse, as the event might prove” (60). Babo’s watchful and compassionate gaze upon Don Benito is a facade that masks Babo’s gaze as tool to instill fear in Don Benito and make sure Don Benito follows through with the deceit.
In addition, the fact that Babo is able to manipulate Don Benito without the use of direct physical threats while Captain Delano is on board clearly demonstrates the stark superiority Babo has over Captain Delano and the subsequent degree of influence/manipulation Babo is able to exert upon Delano. Mentally inflicted fear represents not only apprehension of physical pain but more deep and terrifying emotional agony. In the framework of Benito Cereno, this degree of fear is brought on by the sudden interchange of cultural roles between Don Benito and Babo and their unanticipated switch of superiority following the successful slave revolt. However, Babo’s influence and deceit is also made up of physically induced fear.

Although Don Benito is tested mentally/internally by Babo and his successful revolt, events which detail the spontaneous physical conflict/show of dominancy between Babo’s men and a white sailor as well as Babo’s men and a “Spanish lad” (79) demonstrate the detrimental effect of physical induced conflicts as Don Benito can do nothing but watch the discord unfold as he is under the authority of Babo. As Captain Delano recounts, “Two blacks, to all appearances accidentally incommoded by one of the sailors, few out against him [the white sailor] with horrible curses, which the sailor someway resenting, the two blacks dashed him to the deck and jumped upon him” (72). This event not only adds to the growing tenseness aboard the ship, but also is one of the few prime examples of pure physical conflict before Don Benito’s eventual escape. Unlike conflict not directly fed by violence itself, physical conflict is often more undisguised/transparent and therefore presents a contrast from the abundance of hidden and secret conflict aboard the San Dominick. However, Melville is also able to connect both physically and mentally inflicted fear in a single event and consequently demonstrates the harmony between these two kinds of inflictors.

Within Benito Cereno, a strong example of the use of fear to manipulate Don Benito is the shaving scene where Babo’s handling of the razor inflicts an incredible amount of fright upon Don Benito. Babo states, “You must not shake so, master. See, Don Amasa, master always shakes when I shave him. And yet master knows I never yet have drawn blood, though it’s true, if master will shake so I may some of these times” (85). That Don Benito is also forced to deceive Captain Delano augments his feeling of terror. Melville vividly depicts Babo as in control of both Don Benito and Delano through Babo’s masked and disguised dominance within the shaving scene. In addition, the shaving scene represents the union of both physical and mentally inflicted fear. Babo uses the razor to inflict a sense of physical fear upon Don Benito; however, Babo’s mere presence alongside Captain Delano stimulates a concealed fear within Don Benito to uphold the deceit aboard the San Dominick.

In connection with the whole book, the shaving scene is characteristic of the internal and undisclosed conflict aboard the San Dominick. The statement by Babo, “… if master will shake so I may some of those times” (85) represents the internal/non- spoken discord between Don Benito and Babo. The shaking is a symbol for the possibility of Don Benito to go against Babo’s secret orders and reveal the inner conflict/scheme aboard the ship. Babo uses the possibility of accidentally drawing blood during shaving to represent the consequences if Don Benito disobeys Babo.

The shaving scene also reveals Captain Delano’s uni-faced cultural worldview and his inability to grasp the glaring conflict underneath the surface of the generated façade. That Captain Delano believes that since Don Benito is “so nervous he can’t even bear the sight of barber’s blood” (86) it is not credible that Delano “should have imagined he (Benito) meant to spill all my [Delano’s] blood” (86) as Don Benito “can’t endure the sight of one little drop of his own” (86). As Captain Delano does not even recognize Babo, his suspicion demonstrates his inability to grasp the underlying conflict between Don Benito and Babo. This inability also demonstrates the inherently racist cultural viewpoint of Captain Delano as it suggests that Delano considers Babo unable and not competent enough to plot against him due to Delano’s compliance with the racist cultural norms of the setting.

Although Delano does finally realize the inner plot behind the concealed conflict aboard the San Dominick, that his realization is attained very late and is prompted by a blatant show of violence (Benito’s escape) demonstrates Delano’s ineptitude in understanding the hidden conflict aboard the slave vessel. As depicted by Herman Melville, “That moment, across the long-benighted mind of Captain Delano, a flash of revelation swept, illuminating in unanticipated clearness his host’s whole mysterious demeanor, with every enigmatic event of the day, as well as the entire past voyage of the San Dominick. He smote Babo’s hand down, but his own heart smote him harder. With infinite pity he withdrew his hold from Don Benito. Not Captain Delano, but Don Benito, the black, in leaping into the boat, had intended to stab” (97). That it took Babo to violently lash out at Don Benito for Delano to realize establishes Delano’s slow realization; however, since Delano did eventually realize it elucidates his veiled yet present ability to understand conflict. Melville’s use of the words “benighted mind” support the claim that Delano’s incompetence in recognition was due to a lack of cultural worldview and an insufficiency of cultural progressiveness because of a deficiency of ethnic/racial exposure.

Ultimately, within Benito Cereno, Melville demonstrates the influence Babo’s deceit has not only on manipulating/influencing Don Benito but also unearthing the uni- facetedness of Delano’s cultural worldview. By inflicting both mental and physical fear upon Don Benito, Babo has assumed control over Don Benito and spread a blanket of invisible conflict over the San Dominick. In extension, Delano’s slow recognition of the underlying conflict/imbalance of power between Don Benito and Babo prompts us as readers to have a more diverse cultural identity. Delano’s unfortunate lack of cultural awareness should be a warning for individuals in the 21st century, an age of progressiveness, to attain a multi perspective view on life so as to live a more bountiful, diverse, and culturally rich life.


Nabeel Quryshi is 17 years old and a rising senior at the University School of Milwaukee. His award-winning research focuses on developing novel therapeutics to combat coronary artery disease and the detrimental effects of chemotherapy upon the cardiovascular system. In addition, his current research goals include creating and utilizing a novel mathematical model of the human cell to understand the complexity of cellular systems.

He has presented his research and findings at state, national and international conferences and competitions. Having won the Best of Fair — 1st Place Grand Award at the Badger State Science & Engineering Fair, Nabeel most recently was awarded the prestigious First Place Grand Award in the Biomedical & Health Sciences category at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair. This places his research in the top 40 projects in the world and bestows the privilege of having an asteroid/minor planet named in his honor.

Aside from his passion for all things science, he is captain of the varsity tennis team, concertmaster of the orchestra and founder and president of Harmonies for Health, a community orchestral performance ensemble. He is an ardent advocate of STEM education for all and was recently invited as a keynote speaker at the inaugural March for Science Milwaukee. Nabeel will also share his love for science as an invited TEDx speaker later this August.

Nabeel is also passionate about his religion. As a director of AMAN (American Muslims Assisting Neighbors), he has a desire to fix the way Islam is portrayed in the modern media.

Companies:
Annulata LLC — annulata.com
— lifescitechnologies.com
— tetradgraphics.com
— geneowl.com

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