Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno (Cliffs Notes)

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BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER & BENITO CERENO Notes including • Life and Background of the Author • Introductions to the Works • Brief Synopses • Lists of Characters • Critical Commentaries • Critical Essays • Essay Topics and Review Questions • Selected Bibliography by Mary Ellen Snodgrass, M.A. University of North Carolina at Greensboro

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 68501 1-800-228-4078

www.CLIFFS.com ISBN 0-8220-7021-9 © Copyright 1992 by Cliffs Notes, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Cliffs Notes on Bartleby the Scrivener & Benito Cereno © 1992

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LIFE AND BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR Melville's Early Years From early times, Herman Melville, like countless other lonely, contemplative, and misunderstood wanderers, was drawn to the sea. A reserved, bookish, skeptical man, he was never given to easy answers or orthodox religious beliefs. He was a striking figure--average in height, with a full, curling brown beard, cane, and ever-present Meerschaum pipe. His merry blue-green eyes and cheerful sociability brought him many friends and partners for games of whist. He was a faithful letter writer and established a reputation as a mesmerizing teller of tales. He gave full range to his imagination, as demonstrated by his comment about the writing of Moby-Dick: "I have a sort of sea-feeling. My room seems a ship's cabin; and at nights when I wake up and hear the wind shrieking, I almost fancy there is too much sail on the house, and I had better go on the roof and rig in the chimney." Yet, as he grew older, he drew into himself, in part a reaction to personal troubles and literary anonymity. Born August 1, 1819, on Pearl Street in New York City near the Battery, Melville was the third of eight children, four boys and four girls, and a descendant of respectable Scotch, Irish, and Dutch colonial settlers. He was the grandson of two American Revolutionary War leaders, one of whom participated in the Boston Tea Party. His father, Allan Melvill (as the name was originally spelled), a snobbish, shallow man, was an importer of French luxury items, including fine silks, hats, and gloves. He suffered a mental breakdown, caught pneumonia, and died broke in 1832, owing nearly $25,000 and leaving destitute his wife, Maria Gansevoort Melville. An aristocratic, imperious, unsympathetic woman, she moved in with her well-to-do parents, who helped educate and support her brood. For two years, Melville attended the Albany Classical School, which specialized in preparing pupils for the business world. He displayed no particular scholarliness or literary promise, but he did join a literary and debate society, as well as submit letters to the editor of the Albany Microscope. From a boyhood of relative affluence, he underwent a rapid fall in social prominence as his family accustomed itself to genteel poverty. Ultimately, Melville and his brother Gansevoort had to drop out of school to help support the family. Melville enrolled at Lansingburgh Academy in 1838 and, with ambitions of helping to construct the Erie Canal, studied engineering and surveying. He graduated the next year and worked briefly as a bank clerk, then as a salesman; he was a laborer on his Uncle Thomas' farm, clerked in his brother's fur and hat store, and also taught elementary school. During this period, he dabbled in writing and contributed articles to the local newspaper.

A Life at Sea In his late teens, Melville's mother's worsening financial position and his inability to find suitable work forced him to leave home. In 1839, he signed on as a cabin boy of the packet St. Lawrence. His fourmonth voyage to Liverpool established his kinship with the sea. It also introduced him to the shabbier side of England, as well as of humanity, for the captain cheated him of his wages. A deep reader of Shakespearean tragedies, French and American classics, and the Bible, Melville returned to New York and tried his hand as schoolmaster at Pittsfield and East Albany. Again disappointed in his quest for a life's work and stymied by a hopeless love triangle, he returned to the sea on January 3, 1841, on the whaler Acushnet's maiden voyage from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to the South Seas. This eighteen-month voyage served as the basis for Moby-Dick.


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In July 1842, at Nukahiva in the Marquesas Islands, he and shipmate Richard Tobias ("Toby") Greene deserted ship to avoid intolerable conditions and a meager diet of hardtack and occasional fruit. They lived for a month under benign house arrest among the cannibalistic Typees. With his Polynesian mistress, Melville enjoyed a few carefree months as a beach bum. During this sojourn, he distanced himself from the Western world's philosophies as well as nineteenth-century faith in "progress." Melville escaped the Typees aboard the Lucy Ann, an Australian whaler not much better than his former berth. He became embroiled in a mutiny, was jailed for a few weeks in a British prison, and deserted ship a second time in September 1842, at Papeete, Tahiti, along with the ship's doctor, Long Ghost. For a time, he worked as a field laborer and enjoyed the relaxed island lifestyle. Leaving Tahiti, he sailed on the Charles and Henry, a whaler, off the shores of Japan, then on to Lahaina, Maui, and Honolulu, Hawaii. To earn his passage home, he worked as a store bookkeeper and a pinsetter in a bowling alley. He was so poor that he could not afford a peacoat to shield him from the cold gales of Cape Horn. In desperation, he fashioned a coat from white duck and earned for himself the nickname "White Jacket." The events of the final leg of the journey tell much of the young man's spirit. At one point, he was in danger of a flogging for deserting his post until a brave seaman intervened. In a second episode, Captain Claret ordered him to shave his beard. When Melville bridled at the order, he was flogged and manacled. Crowning his last days at sea was an impromptu baptism when he fell from a yardarm into the water off the coast of Virginia.

The Literary Years As an ordinary seaman on the man-of-war United States, Melville returned to Boston in October 1844, where he resumed civilian life. His imagination continued to seek refuge on the waves under a restless sky. In 1846, from his experience among the cannibals, he composed Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, the first of four amorphous autobiographical novels. The book opened the world of the South Seas to readers and went into its fifth printing that same year, yet earned only $2,000. Although expunged of erotic passages, his work met with negative criticism from religious editors who attacked another element--his description of the greed of missionaries to the South Pacific. The favorable reaction of readers, on the other hand, encouraged Melville to produce more blends of personal experience and fiction: Omoo (1847), which is based on his adventures in Tahiti, Redburn (1848), which describes his first voyage to England, and White-Jacket (1850), a protest which led to an act of Congress banning the practice of flogging in the U.S. Navy. One of his fans, Robert Louis Stevenson, was so intrigued by these and other seagoing romances that he followed Melville's example and sailed to Samoa. On August 4, 1847, Melville married Elizabeth "Lizzie" Shaw, daughter of Lemuel Shaw, chief justice of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, to whom Typee is dedicated. The Melvilles honeymooned in Canada and settled in New York on what is now Park Avenue South, where they spent the happiest years of their marriage and enjoyed intellectual company, including William Cullen Bryant, Richard Henry Dana, and Washington Irving. Their first child, Malcolm, was born in 1849. A second son, Stanwix, was born in 1851, followed by two daughters, Elizabeth in 1853 and Frances in 1855. In 1850, the Melville family moved to "Arrowhead," a large two-story frame house on a heavily wooded 160-acre farm near Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Among his New England peers, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Maria Sedgwick, Melville established a reputation for honesty, courage, persistence, and seriousness of expression and purpose, and was, for a time, numbered among the Transcendentalists.


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By the late 1840s, Melville, well established as a notable author of travel romance and a contributor of comic pieces to Yankee Doodle magazine, became known as "the man who had lived among the cannibals." However, the reaction to his experimentation with satire, symbol, and allegory in Mardi (1849) gave him a hint of the fickleness of literary fame. Victorian readers turned away from his cynical philosophy and dark moods in favor of more uplifting authors. Lizzie, who lacked her husband's philosophical bent, confessed that the book was unclear to her. After the reading public's rejection, he voiced his dilemma: "What I feel most moved to write, that is banned,--it will not pay. Yet, altogether, write the other way I cannot. So the product is a final hash, and all my books are botches." On an outing in the Berkshire Mountains, Melville made a major literary contact. He met and formed a close relationship with his neighbor and mentor, Nathaniel Hawthorne, whom he had reviewed in an essay for Literay World. Their friendship, as recorded in Melville's letters, provided Melville with a sounding board and bulwark through his literary career. As a token of his warm feelings, he dedicated Moby-Dick (1851), his fourth and most challenging novel, to Hawthorne. As he expressed to his friend and editor, Evert Duyckinck, two years before composing Moby-Dick: "I love all men who dive. Any fish can swim near the surface, but it takes a great whale to go down stairs five miles or more." The sentiment reflects both the dedicatee and the author as well. Melville attempted to support not only his own family but also his mother and sisters, who moved in with the Melvilles ostensibly to teach Lizzie how to keep house. In a letter to Hawthorne, Melville complains, "Dollars damn me." He owed Harper's for advances on his work. The financial strain, plus immobilizing attacks of rheumatism in his back, failing eyesight, sciatica, and the psychological stress of writing MobyDick, led to a nervous breakdown in 1856. The experience with Mardi had proved prophetic. Moby-Dick, now considered his major work and a milestone in American literature, suffered severe critical disfavor. He followed with contributions to Harper's and Putnam's magazines, which paid him five dollars per page, a handy source of supplemental income. He also published Pierre (1852), Israel Potter (1855), and The Piazza Tales (1856), the collection which contains both "Bartleby the Scrivener" and Benito Cereno. Yet, even with these masterworks, he never regained the readership he enjoyed with his first four novels. Shunned by readers as uncouth, formless, irrelevant, verbose, and emotional, Moby-Dick was the nadir of his career. Alarmed by the author's physical and emotional collapse, his family summoned Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes to attend him. They borrowed money from Lizzie's father to send Melville on a recuperative trek to Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East; however, his health remained tenuous.

Later Years Depressed, Melville traveled to San Francisco aboard a clipper ship captained by his youngest brother, Tom, lectured about the South Seas and his European travels, wrote poetry, and in vain sought a consulship in the Pacific, Italy, or Belgium to stabilize his failing finances. With deep-felt patriotism, he tried to join the Navy at the outbreak of the American Civil War but was turned down. He moved to New York in 1863. Because the reading public refused his fiction, Melville began writing poems. The first collection, Battle Pieces (1866), delineates his view of war, particularly the American Civil War. With these poems, he supported abolitionism, yet wished no vengeance on the South for the economic system it inherited. The second work, Clarel (1876), an 18,000-line narrative poem, evolved from the author's travels in Jerusalem and describes a young student's search for faith. A third, John Marr and Other Sailors (1888), followed by Timoleon (1891), were privately published, primarily at the expense of his uncle, Peter Gansevoort.


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During this period, for four dollars a day Melville served at the Gansevoort Street wharf from 1866-86 as deputy inspector of customs, a job he characterized as "a most inglorious one; indeed, worse than driving geese to water." The move was heralded by a carriage accident, which further diminished Melville's health. He grew more morose and inward after his son Malcolm shot himself in 1866, following a quarrel over Malcolm's late hours. His second son, Stanwix, went to sea in 1869, never established himself in a profession, and died of tuberculosis in a San Francisco hospital in February 1886. Melville mellowed in his later years. A legacy to Lizzie enabled him to retire; he ceased scrabbling for a living. He took pleasure in his grandchildren, daily contact with the sea, and occasional visits to the Berkshires. When the New York Author's Club invited him to join, he declined. Virtually ignored by the literary world of his day, Melville made peace with the creative forces that tormented him by characterizing the ultimate confrontation between evil and innocence. He became more reclusive, more contemplative, as he composed his final manuscript, Billy Budd, a short novel about arbitrary justice, which he shaped slowly from 1888 to 1891, then completed five months before his death. He dedicated the novella to John J. "Jack" Chase, fellow sailor, lover of poetry, and father figure. Without reestablishing himself in the literary community, Melville died on September 28, 1891. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the north Bronx; his obituary occupied only three lines in the New York Post. Billy Budd, the unfinished text which some critics classify as containing his most incisive characterization, remained unpublished until 1924. This work, along with his journals and letters, a few magazine sketches, and Raymond M. Weaver's biography, revived interest in Melville's writings in 1920. Melville's manuscripts are currently housed in the Harvard collection.

A Melville Time Line 1819 1830 1832 1838 1839 1841 1842

1843 1844 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853

Herman Melville is born in New York City on August 1, the third child and second son of Allan and Maria Gansevoort Melvill. The Melvill family moves to Albany. Allan Melvill dies. Maria and her eight children move to Albany to be closer to the Gansevoorts. Melville enrolls at Lansingburgh Academy to study engineering and surveying. Melville sails for Liverpool aboard the St. Lawrence and returns four months later. Melville sails from Fairhaven, Massachusetts, aboard the whaler Acushnet on January 3. Melville and Richard Tobias Greene jump ship in the Marquesas Islands. In July, he sails aboard the whaler Lucy Ann for Tahiti and is involved in a crew rebellion. In September, he jumps ship in Papeete, Tahiti. Melville does odd jobs in Honolulu before enlisting in the U.S. Navy aboard the frigate United States. Melville is discharged from the Navy in Boston in October. Melville publishes Typee. Melville publishes Omoo. He marries Elizabeth Shaw and settles in New York City. Melville publishes Redburn. He journeys to Europe. Melville publishes Mardi. His son Malcolm is born. Melville publishes White-Jacket. He purchases "Arrowhead," a farm outside Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and forms a friendship with his neighbor Nathaniel Hawthorne. Melville publishes The Whale, then reissues it under the title Moby-Dick. Melville's second son, Stanwix, is born. Melville publishes Pierre. Melville's first daughter, Elizabeth, is born. Putnam's magazine publishes "Bartleby the Scrivener" in two installments. Melville is paid $85.


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1855 1856

1857 1863 1866 1869 1876 1886 1888 1891 1924

Melville publishes Israel Potter. Frances, his second daughter and last child, is born. Putnam's magazine publishes Benito Cereno in three installments. Melville publishes The Piazza Tales, a collection of short stories including "Bartleby" and Benito Cereno. At the point of mental and physical collapse, Melville travels in Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Melville's The Confidence Man is published while he is out of the country. He launches a threeyear stint as a lecturer. Melville sells Arrowhead and returns to New York City. Melville publishes Battle Pieces, the first of his poetic works, and accepts a job as customs inspector for the Port of New York. Malcolm dies of a self-inflicted pistol wound. Stanwix goes to sea. Melville publishes Clarel. Stanwix Melville dies of tuberculosis in San Francisco. Melville publishes John Marr and Other Sailors and begins writing Billy Budd on November 16. Melville publishes Timoleon, then completes the manuscript for Billy Budd on April 19 and dies on September 28. Raymond Weaver is instrumental in the publication of Billy Budd.

Parallel Literary and Historical Events 1793 1800

Eli Whitney devises the cotton gin, which makes slavery more profitable. Free blacks of Philadelphia petition Congress to free slaves. A slave insurrection in Virginia is quelled and the perpetrator hanged. 1803 Louisiana Purchase doubles the size of the American colonies. Blacks set fire to New York City. 1807 Congress ends the importation of slaves. 1808 John Jacob Astor opens his American Fur Company. 1816 Byron publishes The Prisoner of Chillon. 1819 Slave smuggling becomes a lucrative trade. 1820 The Missouri Compromise keeps a balance between slave and free states. Abolitionist pamphlets, speeches, and correspondence in circulation. 1824 Byron dies while fighting for Greek independence. 1831 The New England Anti-Slavery Society is formed. William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing The Liberator. Nat Turner initiates a slave insurrection in Virginia. He and nineteen other blacks are hanged. 1833 William Lloyd Garrison helps found the American Anti-Slavery Society of Philadelphia. 1840 Abolitionists divide over the issue of an anti-slavery party. Around 10,000 runaway slaves resettle in Ontario. 1849 Poe dies. 1850 Hawthorne publishes The Scarlet Letter. Harper's magazine is established. The Fugitive Slave Act increases activity by the Underground Railroad. 1851 Sojourner Truth addresses the Women's Rights Convention. 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin. 1853 Putnam's magazine is founded. 1855 Dickens publishes Hard Times. 1857 The Dred Scott decision maintains that slaves are property. 1860 Around 60,000 runaway slaves settle in Ontario. 1861-65 The American Civil War ends slavery.


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“BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER” INTRODUCTION TO THE STORY Like many artists, Melville felt constrained to choose between art and money. The turning point of his career came in 1851. With the publication of Moby-Dick, he grew disenchanted with his attempt to please the general reader. Instead, he cultivated a more spiritual language to express the darker, enigmatic side of the soul. Like his letters, Melville's style became tortuous and demanding; his themes questioned the nature of good and evil and what he perceived as upheaval in universal order. Pierre, his first published work after Moby-Dick, with its emphasis on incest and moral corruption, exemplifies his decision to change direction. His readers, accustomed to the satisfying rough and tumble of his sea yarns, were unable to make the leap from straightforward adventure tale to probing fiction. The gems hidden among lengthy, digressive passages required more concentrative effort than readers were capable of or willing to put forth. Challenged to delve into the perplexities of morality, Melville avoided the more obvious superficialities and plunged determinedly into greater mysteries. For the sake of economy and speed, his output dwindled from the full-length novel to the short story, a stylistic constriction with which he never developed ease. One of the most obtuse of these short works, "Bartleby the Scrivener," subtitled "A Story of Wall-Street," was published for $85 in Putnam's magazine in November and December 1853; its focus is on the dehumanization of a copyist, the nineteenth-century equivalent of a photocopy machine. Suggesting the author's own obstinacy, the main character replies to all comers, "I would prefer not to," thereby declaring his independence from outside intervention. Characterized as a symbolic fable of self-isolation and passive resistance to routine, "Bartleby the Scrivener" reveals the decremental extinction of a human spirit. Throughout Bartleby's emotional illness, it is sheer will that supplants the necessary parts of his personality that atrophy during his tenure at the Wall Street office. The humanistic theme, which ties one of life's winners inextricably to the pathetic demise of a loser, relegates the two central characters to a single fraternity, their shared belonging in the family of humankind. The subtle insights which give the unnamed narrator no peace also grip the reader in a perplexing examination of the nature and purpose of charity.

A BRIEF SYNOPSIS A successful lawyer on Wall Street hires Bartleby, a scrivener, to relieve the load of work experienced by his law firm. For two days, Bartleby executes his job with skill and gains the owner's confidence for his diligence. Then the copyist begins demonstrating signs of mental imbalance by refusing to proofread his work, finally refusing to copy altogether. Instead, he stares out the window at a blank wall. The lawyer, who discovers that Bartleby lives at the law office, gives him time to recover from eye strain, then tries to fire the recalcitrant employee. Bartleby refuses to leave. A second strategem, moving to another office and leaving Bartleby behind, results in outrage from the new tenants, who charge the lawyer with responsibility for Bartleby's eccentricities. After fleeing the scene for several days, the lawyer returns and learns that Bartleby has been arrested for vagrancy and taken to the Tombs. Still driven by a compassionate urge, the lawyer visits Bartleby and


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finds him free to roam the grassy yard, but confining himself to the study of a wall. On a subsequent visit, the lawyer observes Bartleby's huddled form lying dead at the base of a wall. Still haunted by the singular peculiarities of his deceased employee, the lawyer ponders rumors that the man was forced out of a job at the Dead Letter Office. In retrospect, the lawyer feels pity for Bartleby and all humankind.

LIST OF CHARACTERS Bartleby Ousted from a clerkship at the Dead Letter Office in Washington, Bartleby becomes a conscientious, almost robotic law copyist who works for four cents per folio or every hundred words copied. His work suffers from the onset of a mental aberration which causes him to decline direct instructions from his employer, then lapse into periods of nonconformity and self-isolation. His lean face and calm gray eyes reveal no agitation--only the intransigence that leads to the story's conflict. At the time of his death, forlorn and solitary, he rejects food and normal human interaction.

The Lawyer A complacent, self-satisfied professional "conveyancer and title hunter," the narrator of the story, who is nearly sixty years old, refers to himself as "rather elderly." Imbued with the philosophy that the "easiest way of life is the best," he enjoys the rewards of the office of Master in Chancery along with property and some distinction among his Wall Street peers. Overly fastidious in matters of controversy, his usual methods of dealing with adversity are reason, monetary bribes, and withdrawal.

Ginger Nut The twelve-year-old office factotum, Ginger Nut, ambitious son of a van driver, runs errands, sweeps, and, for a dollar per week, performs other tasks common to office boys, including purchasing cakes and apples for the copyists.

The Grub-man An unctuous opportunist who provides quality food to people who can afford to pay for something better than ordinary prison fare.

Nippers A sallow-skinned, bewhiskered, dyspeptic malcontent of twenty-five, Nippers is neat, well dressed, and swift at his copying. He grinds his teeth and hisses over his work, frequently halting to readjust the height of his work table. His agitation subsides after the noon meal. A small-time ward politician, he does business at the justices' courts and the steps of the Tombs.

Turkey A sixtyish, corpulent Englishman, Turkey is gray-haired, short of stature, and red of face following his noon meal. A valuable copyist, he approaches a rebellious state every afternoon until around six o'clock by becoming reckless, combative, and messy in his columns. His clothing, like his work, reflects oily spills and the smell of restaurants.


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CRITICAL COMMENTARIES Exposition A regular employer of law-copyists over a thirty-year period, the elderly and conservative narrator, who remains unnamed, reports on a singular young man who once worked as a scrivener in his law office, which specializes in legal paperwork, notably bonds, mortgages, and title-deeds. Located on Wall Street and serving as Master in Chancery, the speaker occupies a second floor office that looks out on two walls--one white and the other grimy black. Employing two copyists and an office boy, the lawyer finds his business grown to the point of needing an additional copyist. Upon hiring Bartleby, the narrator retains him on his side of a glass folding door, which separates him from the three other employees. Bartleby's nook overlooks a blank wall three feet from the window. Commentary Throughout this story, the limited first-person point of view of the narrator reveals more of his own values and motivation than those of Bartleby, whom he never fully appreciates or comprehends. Like yin and yang, the two form the necessary dichotomy of clerical worker and professional, just as Turkey and Nippers offset each other's propensities and idiosyncrasies. This motif of duality suggests the complementary nature of human beings, who must accommodate both points of view in order to comprehend life fully. The setting, an integral unit of the financial center of the United States, is actually Melville's own childhood neighborhood and also the general location of the Custom House, where he spent the last years of public service until his retirement. _____________ (Here and in the following chapters, difficult allusions, words and phrases are explained, as are these below.) • John Jacob Astor (1763-1848) American entrepreneur who amassed a fortune in the fur trade. •

Master in Chancery

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Wall Street Dating from a Dutch settlement, a walled street in New York City, reaching from Broadway to the East River and currently comprising the financial nerve center of the United States.

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cannel coal

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anthracite a hard, slow-burning form of coal.

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sand-box

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boxing his papers

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with submission

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the Tombs

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a dun

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car-man

chief clerk of the court of equity.

bituminous coal, which burns with a bright flame.

container holding sand which is sprinkled to blot up excess ink. evening the edges of a stack of papers by tamping them into place. meaning no disrespect.

nickname for a New York City prison.

a bill collector. van driver; deliveryman.


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•

Spitzenbergs

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conveyancer attorney who prepares documents to facilitate the transfer of property; a real estate lawyer.

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title hunter

strong-flavored red and yellow apples common to the New York area.

attorney who establishes prior claims on property.

Rising Action For two days, Bartleby works well--almost too well. He is compulsive about his copying, "gorging" himself on documents. On the third day, however, he surprises his employer by casually stating three separate times that he would "prefer not to" assist in proofreading a small document. Ordinarily, the narrator would have considered firing Bartleby, but because of Bartleby's composure and rational manner and because the narrator is preoccupied with business, he moves on to more pressing matters. A few days later, Bartleby refuses to take part in scanning his own sheaf of quadruplicates. The lawyer, exasperated to the breaking point, asks his other employees their opinion in the matter. Turkey agrees that the lawyer has made a reasonable request; Nippers suggests that they kick Bartleby out of the office. Ginger Nut, the least mature of the foursome, suspects Bartleby of lunacy. Bartleby, saying nothing in his defense, withdraws to his corner. Days later, the narrator contemplates Bartleby's general behavior. He discerns that he never dines out and lives on a scanty diet of ginger cakes. Filled with compassion, the narrator concludes that firing Bartleby would expose him to rough treatment for his involuntary eccentricities, and so he congratulates himself for opting to be charitable. However, the narrator's generous frame of mind gives way to vexation sometime later after Bartleby again refuses to compare copies. The narrator subdues a belligerent Turkey, who would "black his [Bartleby's] eyes," and asks Bartleby to run an errand to the post office, a threeminute walk. Bartleby again refuses the request and refuses, as well, to summon Nippers to go on the errand. The narrator, unable to cope, leaves for dinner. In the coming days, Bartleby remains honest and industrious, except for singular pauses to stand in revery and intermittent occasions when he prefers not to work. One Sunday morning, as the narrator walks toward Trinity Church, he stops at his office and discovers that Bartleby is locked inside. After walking around the block several times, the narrator summons sympathy for his employee, whom he considers a fellow mortal, and returns to the now-vacated office to investigate Bartleby's solitary existence. He finds Bartleby's savings knotted in a bandanna and thrust into a recess of his desk and concludes that Bartleby has been living in the office at night. Thinking over Bartleby's general behavior, the lawyer concludes that the man does not converse, read, drink beer, or dine out. He does not even indulge in tea or coffee. The lawyer's contemplation of the copyist's "morbid moodiness" moves from sadness and pity to fear and repulsion. He concludes that the disorder is "innate and incurable" and that Bartleby's suffering soul lies beyond his ability to render aid. Deciding to question the man, the lawyer proposes to fire him if he elects not to respond. On Monday morning, while asking Bartleby about his background, he receives the same answer to all his questions: "I would prefer not to [tell you]." The lawyer loses control of the situation. Embarrassed that Bartleby is defying him, his superior, he also perceives that the demented man's "prefers" are beginning to permeate conversations throughout the office. Still, the lawyer delays taking action. The next day, Bartleby reveals that his vision is impaired. Touched by the vocational hazard of eyestrain, the lawyer urges him to get some fresh air by taking letters to the post office. Bartleby, as usual, declines . . . preferring "not to." The lawyer performs the errand himself. Days later, Bartleby reveals that Cliffs Notes on Bartleby the Scrivener & Benito Cereno © 1992

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he has decided to give up copying. The lawyer knows that Bartleby is alone in the world, but nonetheless, he gives him six days to leave his employ. Commentary Surrounded by functionary stereotypes, the lawyer, a round character, considers himself a "safe" man. As such, he is conservative, rational, and ostensibly a charitable, approachable, but WASPish citizen. In performance of duties, he lacks control over details, as indicated by his loss of the fourth key to his office. Accustomed to an unvarying predictability on Wall Street, he is utterly perplexed at discovering Bartleby only partially dressed and living in the office. The lawyer's weak response to the copyist's challenge of authority leads him to berate himself for "[permitting] his hired clerk to dictate to him." When confronted by such irrational behavior, the narrator rejects violence and vituperation. Instead, he resorts to the parlance and behavior of his profession, debating the situation as though it were a court matter, or else withdrawing from the scene or into the complexities of work as a means of quelling an inner compulsion to strike out at his mulish copyist. The contretemps that exists between the two men is the equivalent of a modern-day professional person trying to coax work from a recalcitrant machine, for the narrator considers Bartleby a "valuable acquisition," similar in modern times to a photocopier, computer printer, or fax machine. _____________ •

Byron (1788-1824) a poet and key figure in the English romantic movement. The implication is that anyone with imagination would have detested Bartleby's job.

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Cicero (106-43 B.C.) consul and orator of the Roman Republic who established a reputation for composed rationality.

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High Court of Chancery goods.

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pillar of salt In Genesis 19:26, Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt because she disobeyed God by looking back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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vouchsafed

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hermitage

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Windsor soap

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Trinity Church

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deshabille a polite French euphemism for "partially clothed."

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the proprieties of the day

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Petra

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Marius brooding among the ruins of Carthage Roman general (157-86 B.C.) who achieved fame by bringing Rome's war with Numidia to a swift conclusion.

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sons of Adam

a court which hears lawsuits and cases involving fair distribution of

condescended to reply. solitary abode. brown or white scented soap. New York's first Episcopalian church, chartered in 1697.

improper behavior for a Sunday.

ancient Roman city in the Jordanian desert.

figuratively, members of the human race.


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•

chimeras

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millstone a weighty burden.

outlandish thoughts.

Climax At the end of the six-day period, Bartleby has made no move to supply himself with a new job or lodgings. The lawyer therefore thrusts on him twelve dollars in back wages plus a twenty-dollar gift, then makes a parting speech and withdraws. The next day, Bartleby is still there; the lawyer, pressed to explain the man's behavior, tries to force him into debate on the issue, but receives only silence in response. Pushed to the edge of violence, the lawyer recalls a biblical injunction to love other people. Wrestling with the urge to strike out in anger, the lawyer leaves the office without addressing Bartleby further. After doing some preliminary reading on willful behavior and necessity, the lawyer comes to think of Bartleby as a burden imposed by God. He concludes that he will allow Bartleby to stay on without challenge. Commentary Melville utilizes details to reveal the narrator's preoccupation with his dilemma. Congratulating himself on his handling of the unsettling office situation, the lawyer passes a pair of pedestrians debating an election and, so self-absorbed is he in his own affairs, he assumes they are discussing his problem with Bartleby. Ups and downs of inner debate impel him now toward physical confrontation, then to an intellectual process, which concludes that his conflict with Bartleby was predetermined by God. The acceptance of his employee's bizarre behavior is one choice which requires no definitive judgment, no overt action. In terms of resolution, the contrast between the protagonist and antagonist proves ironic. At this point in the clash of wills, Bartleby has, in effect, elected death rather than continue functioning in his role as scrivener. Willing himself to shrivel both emotionally and physically, he seems set on a course of action through passive resistance or non-action. A far cry from the vacillating lawyer, Bartleby gives the impression that he knows what he must do and is willing to suffer the consequences. _____________ •

Adams and . . . Colt John C. Colt killed Samuel Adams, a printer, then shipped his corpse to New Orleans in a crate.

•

A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another the words of Christ found in John 13:34. Christ's revolutionary statement of purpose replaced the Ten Commandments of Moses with only two injunctions: to love God and to love other human beings.

•

Edwards on the Will

•

Priestley on Necessity from the 25-volume theological writings of Joséph Priestley (17331804), English scientist and clergyman.

•

Providence

Calvinistic opinions of Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) about human will.

figuratively, God.

Falling Action The lawyer's decision to stop badgering Bartleby remains in force only until other professional men perceive the untenable office situation, in which Bartleby refuses to perform his duties. A rumor circulates about the "strange creature" in the lawyer's office. Choosing to avoid direct confrontation, the


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lawyer sends for movers, ostensibly to reestablish his chambers nearer City Hall, but in reality so that he can rid himself of Bartleby. With a verbal blessing to Bartleby and an unspecific monetary enticement, the lawyer takes new quarters. Several days later, the new occupant of the lawyer's former offices tells him that he must do something about Bartleby, for whom he, as former tenant, is responsible. The lawyer disclaims any connection with Bartleby. The next day, more complainants goad the lawyer to stop Bartleby from haunting the building, sitting on the banisters, and sleeping in the doorway. The presence of so inexplicable a vagrant affects business and may incite a mob. Fearful lest his connection with Bartleby be mentioned in a newspaper account, the lawyer meets privately with Bartleby in an adjacent office and suggests that he seek employment. Bartleby, as immovable as ever, rejects clerking in a dry-goods store, tending bar, collecting accounts for a merchant, or serving as a traveling companion for a young gentleman. Declaring that he prefers "to be stationary," Bartleby pushes his former employer to the end of his patience. On departure, the lawyer tries a gentler tack by inviting Bartleby to his home. Again, Bartleby declines a change of residence. The lawyer runs up Wall Street toward Broadway, boards an omnibus, and leaves the scene. For several days, he leaves his affairs in Nippers' hands and drives about New York and New Jersey in a buggy. Commentary As in Greek tragedy, the emergence of pride is the deciding factor in how the lawyer resolves his impasse with Bartleby. The lawyer carries his fantasy of possible conclusions to such lengths that he envisions Bartleby acquiring squatter's rights to the office by remaining until his employer dies. Fearing public ridicule for his association with so abnormal a person as Bartleby, the lawyer continues to suggest ways of realigning the hermit with normal society. He considers escaping the controversy, then returns to altruism by offering his own residence as a refuge for the homeless man. In none of these approaches to the issue does the lawyer ever actually understand his employee. _____________ •

omnibus

•

rockaway a lightweight four-wheeled carriage with solid top and undraped sides.

bus; public transportation.

Resolution Returning to work, the lawyer finds a note from the landlord explaining that he has had Bartleby arrested for vagrancy and that the lawyer should appear at the prison to state the facts in the case. That same day, the lawyer confers with a prison official and explains that, although Bartleby behaves perversely, he is an honest man and deserving of kindness, even if he must be sent to the poorhouse. Since Bartleby is not considered a dangerous criminal, he has the run of the prison yard, where the lawyer finds him facing a high wall within sight of thieves and murderers. At the lawyer's approach, Bartleby does not turn around and refuses to converse. The lawyer disclaims any part in Bartleby's arrest and reminds him that the yard is pleasantly grassy and open to the sky; Bartleby retorts, "I know where I am." On his departure, the lawyer encounters the grub-man, who offers to provide a better grade of food than Bartleby is likely to receive in prison. The lawyer, willing to underwrite Bartleby's meals, pays the man in advance to bring the prisoner "the best dinner you can get" and urges him to be as polite as possible. The grub-man, suggesting an introduction to his new client, makes a show of condescending to Bartleby and asks what he would like for his evening meal. Bartleby declines to eat dinner, since he is unaccustomed to full-scale dining. The grub-man, who earlier surmised that Bartleby was a "gentleman forger," deduces that he is "odd."


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Returning to the prison within a few days, the lawyer learns that Bartleby was seen exiting his cell and heading for the yard. When the lawyer comes upon the prisoner, he finds him inert against a wall, openeyed in a fetal position. A touch proves that he is lifeless. The lawyer replies to the grub-man that Bartleby will not dine and that he sleeps "with kings and counselors." In a brief epilogue, the lawyer skips over commentary about the burial and reports a rumor which he hears several months later that describes Bartleby as having been an underling at Washington's Dead Letter Office; apparently, he lost his job in a political reshuffling. The lawyer perceives his former employee in a new light as victim of a depressing job which consigns undeliverable human messages to the furnace. He concludes enigmatically, "Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!" Commentary Melville's characterization of the narrator remains true to form. As has been the pattern in his dealings with Bartleby, the lawyer is ambivalent concerning the arrest. At first he is indignant, then approving of the measure as the only alternative. Revelation of the parade-like departure of Bartleby and constable, arm in arm before a retinue of gawkers, provokes no comment. Only at Bartleby's death does the narrator gain insight into the possible cause of his mental aberration. By associating the rumor of Bartleby's employment at the Dead Letter Office with his hopeless, horizonless outlook, the lawyer, who himself has suffered a professional setback from political maneuverings, perceives not only the extent of the man's disconnectedness but also an even greater enigma--the extent of all human alienation. An important aspect of the resolution is the fact that Bartleby, although estranged from reality, is completely aware of his employer's identity. Not so removed from rationality as his behavior suggests, Bartleby, reduced to naked, directionless will, is capable of inflicting severe verbal recrimination. It is classic irony that, at his death, his eyes remain open in the steady gaze that locks him to the dead-wall, a symbol not only of his lack of communication with humanity, but also emblematic of death itself, which he encounters, friendless and alone, on the barren green of a prison yard. _____________ •

alms-house

•

Monroe Edwards

•

Sing-Sing

a home and sheltered workshop for the destitute. a noted forger of the first half of the nineteenth century.

a state prison on the Hudson River in Ossining, New York.

CRITICAL ESSAYS ELEMENTS OF FICTION One of Melville's most puzzling short works, "Bartleby the Scrivener," which critics have labeled one of America's greatest short stories, resembles his other masterpieces--Moby-Dick, Benito Cereno, and Billy Budd--in that it defies a quick, tidy assessment. Its dense symbolic structure has been called a "parable of walls," an illustrative story of Wall Street's self-imposed restrictions on the human spirit. The setting, a kind of emotional ghetto, is, appropriately, a bustling commercial center where people stride to and from work and discuss the coming election. In the office, the narrator erects a folding screen, appropriately tinted green, the color of money, to separate Bartleby, a mundane worker, from himself, a somewhat pompous, smug attorney. The other barriers, the black and white walls visible from the office windows and the dead-wall of the prison yard, Bartleby deliberately seeks out in a perpetual confrontation with immovable, insurmountable objects, suggestive of the unchanging task expected of a copyist. It is ironic


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that the walls of the prison are no more pleasant than the view from the office or the endless paper drudgery which immures Bartleby. The effect on Bartleby is a misspent life--a kind of self-abnegation and living interment. Rather like the human letters relegated to flames at the Dead Letter Office, Bartleby, who is incapable of changing, willingly embraces nothingness. The story's existential overtones spotlight Bartleby like an uncurious rat in an unfathomable maze as he eventually dies in a cheerless cul-de-sac, a walled stopping place in his aspirations which leads to total emotional dysfunction and death. On another plane, the futility of Bartleby's existence suggests Melville's personal disillusionment with the publishing world, which spurned his efforts to raise his fiction from the level of breezy, titillating travelogue to philosophical treatise. In both cases, other copyists and other writers managed to function, even thrive, in stifling milieus. But Bartleby, and, by extension, Melville, both too sensitive to the oppressive forces that encircle them, face slow, inexorable suffocation. Because the story hinges on the actions of a narrator of limited perception, the reader moves fumblingly along toward a resolution of the problem of an employee who refuses to work. A fiercely productive worker at the outset, Bartleby quickly becomes less efficient, then intractible, and finally burdensome to office routine. Because his defiance provokes consternation in his colleagues, he forces his own ouster, yet even then, he refuses to recognize his employer's authority over his will. Unmoved by food, drink, or money, Bartleby's motives elude his employer, whose immersion in the materialism of a commercialistic milieu is only dimly masked by his superficial understanding of Christian altruism. Turning to the law, Bartleby's accusers feel justified, almost jubilant, at his downfall and follow him to jail like merrymakers on holiday. The lawyer, obsessed by his concern for the hapless, asocial Bartleby, makes repeated efforts to flee the man's peculiar behavior, even riding about the countryside in a buggy as though on vacation. The ploy does not end his internal absorption with Bartleby's fate. Drawn back to the prison after his initial visit, he arrives shortly after Bartleby's death and finds him already cold. The dismal scene actualizes his earlier vision of Bartleby in a winding sheet. The melancholy conclusion to the story retains a focus on the narrator, a contemplative man who possesses enough humanity to ponder the self-torment of another human soul. LITERARY TECHNIQUE Part of Melville's skill in storytelling is his ability to weave significant stylistic devices into his narrative technique. In the exposition, the narrator briefly broaches a digression on the "sudden and violent abrogation of the office of Master in Chancery, by the new Constitution, as a--premature act." Later mention of Bartleby's career disappointment at the Dead Letter Office makes the initial, casual throwaway remark meaningful in the overall analysis of the two major characters, who at the outset appear worlds apart, yet share similar career disappointments. A subsequent device, the introduction of Turkey, employs an image of his face, which "gaining its meridian with the sun, seemed to set with it, to rise, culminate, and decline the following day, with the like regularity and undiminished glory." Prophetically, the image foreshadows the rapid rise and decline of Bartleby. A third narrative device, a bit of dialogue between Turkey and the lawyer, concludes with Turkey's remark, ". . . we both are getting old," a foreshadowing of the lawyer's perception that he has more in common with ordinary workmen than he may realize. In the rising action, Melville introduces a symbol, the plaster of Paris bust of Cicero, which serves as a kind of foretaste of the mask of cool detachment which obscures Bartleby's emotions. A similar example of tactile artistry is the allusion to a "pillar of salt," which particularizes the stodgy response of the lawyer at the head of his "column of clerks." These bloodless images suggest the depersonalized atmosphere on Wall Street, which is capable of reducing at least one of its inmates to mental breakdown. The lawyer, who is given to egotism and pomposity, notes with an aphorism, "Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance" and compares his efforts to motivate Bartleby to the futile attempt of


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striking sparks with his knuckles "against a bit of Windsor soap." As the lawyer continues his ruminations over the quandary of what to do with Bartleby, he voices a conceit, or farfetched simile, comparing the pallid Bartleby to the faces "in gala trim, swan-like sailing down the Mississippi of Broadway." So rapt is the lawyer in his musings that he speaks in conversational tone, "a certain unconscious air of pallid--how shall I call it?--of pallid haughtiness, say, or rather an austere reserve." The sporadic caesura emphasizes his own thought rhythms, which lurch along, badly out of sync. He notes a personified feeling, a "superstitious knocking at my heart," which halts his urge to lash out at Bartleby, whom he skewers with an unaccustomed epithet, "the stubborn mule!" With an inversion--a somewhat prissy, self-conscious sentence pattern of his day--the lawyer hopes that "departed he was." Following the climax of the story, the lawyer again returns to caesura and halting rhetorical questions. He challenges himself, "What! he a vagrant, a wanderer, who refuses to budge?" The story then moves rapidly to its conclusion, employing an extended metaphor as a means of foreshadowing Bartleby's death: "The Egyptian character of the masonry weighed upon me with its gloom. But a soft imprisoned turf grew under foot. The heart of the eternal pyramids, it seemed, wherein, by some strange magic, through the clefts, grass-seed, dropped by birds, had sprung." In conversation with the grub-man, he employs a euphemism to note Bartleby's passing: "Lives without dining." The final touch, two cryptic apostrophes, sum up what he has acquired from his experience: "Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!"

BENITO CERENO INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL Under the tutelage of Hawthorne, Melville developed Benito Cereno, one of his most compelling works, which Putnam's magazine ran in three installments in the October, November, and December issues in 1855, only three years after Harriet Beecher Stowe produced Uncle Tom's Cabin, a moralistic novel which incited abolitionist sympathies throughout the United States. Counter to Stowe's pro-black melodrama, Melville's novella, a mystery or suspense thriller, possesses some of the characteristics of a roman a clef, or "key novel," a work of fiction which disguises the names of real people and events. Viewed from the eyes of Don Benito Cereno, a callow aristocrat oblivious to the black race's yearning for freedom, the novel's complex examination of the relationship between conqueror and conquered stresses the white captain's obsession with the black race, which overwhelms and destroys him within three months of his deliverance. The metaphysical elements of Melville's work, particularly his emphasis on rhetorical questions and inversion, is often detrimental to clarity of diction and flow of language. For example: The whites, too, by nature, were the shrewder race. A man with some evil design, would he not be likely to speak well of that stupidity which was blind to his depravity, and malign that intelligence from which it might not be hidden? Not unlikely, perhaps. But if the whites had dark secrets concerning Don Benito, could then Don Benito be any way in complicity with the blacks? But they were too stupid. Besides, who ever heard of a white so far a renegade as to apostatize from his very species almost, by leaguing in against it with negroes?


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Some critics find this work too long and seriously hampered by a contrived retelling of events through a truncated legal deposition in the last segment. For others, the work commands respect for its incisive examination of the corrupting influence of slavery. One admirer, Robert Lowell, based one of his plays in the trilogy The Old Glory (1965) on the novel; the other two plays are based on stories of Hawthorne.

A BRIEF SYNOPSIS On the morning of September 17, 1799, Amasa Delano, the captain of an American sealer, looks out on the bay of St. Maria, a small, uninhabited island off Chile, and sees an unidentified ship moving clumsily toward the harbor. To assist the ship in safe passage, he travels by whale-boat to the vessel, a handsome Spanish trader now fallen into serious disrepair. His perusal of the ship's discipline finds no officers, numerous black slaves milling about and doing odd jobs, and the captain, Don Benito Cereno, too weak and nervous to do much more than what his black servant directs him. Cereno, who maintains a mysteriously evasive veneer, explains that his men and passengers have been depleted by scurvy, fever, and the buffeting of storms near Cape Horn. Unable to maneuver the San Dominick to safe mooring, they have been at the mercy of the sea. Captain Delano, observing unusual glances and ambiguous remarks from Spanish sailors, remains for a day to distribute much-needed water and food to the crew and provide material for sails. At the end of the day, Delano, planning to lend a navigator from his own crew to help the ship on its way to Conception (currently spelled "Concepcion"), descends to his boat to return to the Bachelor's Delight. Don Benito, who has rejected Delano's offer of coffee aboard Delano's ship, suddenly leaps into the whale-boat and is soon followed by Babo, his black slave, who indicates with upraised dagger that he intends to kill his master. Delano realizes that Don Benito is a prisoner and that the peculiar circumstances aboard the San Dominick are an elaborate charade perpetrated by rebels to make him believe that Don Benito is still in charge. Led by Delano's mate, the Americans take possession of the Spanish ship and render aid to the weakened captain. The next month in Lima, the assembly testify before a royal inquiry concerning the capture of the San Dominick. Don Benito states in his deposition that, in May of 1799, the San Dominick, on its way up the western coast of South America to Lima, was overrun by black slaves, who had been allowed to wander at will. The rebels, led by Babo and Atufal, ordered the murder of some passengers and all but six of the crew. They made an example of the slave dealer, Don Alexandro Aranda, whom they mutilated, stabbed, then stripped of flesh and nailed to the bow for a figurehead. When the facts of the recapture of the San Dominick are revealed, Babo is identified, hanged, and burned. His severed head gazes from a pike above the plaza. Don Benito, unable to shake off the horror he has undergone, retires to a local monastery on Mount Agonia, where he dies three months later.

LIST OF CHARACTERS Babo A small, coarse-featured Senegalese around thirty years old, Babo, who was once the slave of a black man, follows Don Benito like a faithful dog and gives the impression of complete devotion to his master's physical comforts. Babo, a flagrant cutthroat, leads the slave revolt, chalks "Follow your leader" below Aranda's skeleton, and orders atrocities, but commits no murder himself.


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Captain Amasa Delano The commander of a large sealer and general merchant ship, Delano, a native of Duxbury, Massachusetts, is "incapable of satire or irony" and demonstrates a trusting, altruistic nature. Fluent in Spanish, he voices racist attitudes, but displays a hearty benevolence toward a fellow captain in need.

Don Benito Cereno A reserved, richly dressed Spanish grandee in his late twenties, Cereno, tall and gaunt, bears a noble face marred by lack of sleep, trauma, and ill health. During the resolution of the plot, Cereno is referred to as "the deponent."

Alexandro Aranda Don Benito's friend and the former owner of the slaves, Aranda was a citizen of Mendoza.

Doctor Juan Martinez de Rozas Councilor of the royal court who presides over the taking of depositions.

Infelez A monk who attends Benito Cereno at the City of Kings refuge.

The Mate of the Bachelor's Delight An athletic, determined man, the chief mate, who once was a naval mercenary, leads the Americans against the rebels aboard the slave ship and is wounded in the chest.

Atufal A gigantic black man with a regal air who treads slowly about the ship, iron collar about his neck and padlocked to a waistband of iron. Every two hours during his sojourn, Atufal pretends to refuse to ask his master's pardon for an unnamed offense which occurred two months earlier. As Babo's lieutenant, he commits no murder and is shot to death in the raid by the American sealers.

Francesco A tall, magisterial mulatto wearing an Oriental turban who proposes poisoning Delano's food.

José Eighteen-year-old servant of Aranda who, previous to the revolt, spied on the captain, reported to Babo, and stabbed his mutilated master.

Lecbe One of the most vicious of the Ashantis who wounds Delano's mate and strikes Masa with a hatchet. Lecbe joins Yan in riveting Aranda's skeleton to the bow.

Negresses These unnamed women sing songs and dance solemnly during periods of violence against the Spaniards and urge the rebels to torture them to death.

Yan Lecbe's cohort who prepares Aranda's skeleton for display.


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Bartholomew Barb Attempts to stab with a dagger a shackled black man who had assaulted him.

Cabin-boy Has his arm broken by the rebels and is struck with hatchets.

Cook Babo has the cook tied, ready to throw him overboard, then relents and spares him.

Juan Bautista Gayette The ship's carpenter.

Juan Robles Boatswain whom Babo orders drowned and who remains afloat long enough to make acts of contrition and to beg for a mass to be said for his soul.

Luys Galgo A sixty-year-old Spanish sailor who tries to convey tokens to Delano.

Martinez Gola A Spanish sailor who attempts to kill a man with a razor after the man is returned to shackles.

Raneds The mate, the only navigator left among the decimated crew, is killed by the rebels while handing a quadrant to Cereno, an act they interpret as suspicious.

Ship-boy Struck with a knife by a young slave boy for expressing hope of rescue.

Don Alonzo Sidonia An elderly resident of Valparaiso and Peruvian civil official, Sidonia is a passenger aboard the San Dominick when it is overrun. Hearing cries from Aranda's berth opposite his own, Sidonia leaps through the window and drowns in the sea.

Don Francisco Masa A middle-aged resident of Mendoza, Masa, who is Aranda's cousin, is struck with a hatchet, then thrown overboard at Babo's orders.

Don Joaquin, Marques de Aramboalaza A youthful passenger aboard the San Dominick and recent arrival from Spain, he carries a jewel for the shrine of our Lady of Mercy in Lima. He is forced to dress as a sailor; Lecbe pours hot tar on his hands. Later, the rebels tie a hatchet to his hands so that he will appear to support the revolt. During the boarding, he is shot as a confederate of the rebels.

Ponce Servant to Aramboalaza who is drowned on Babo's orders.


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Three Clerks from Cadiz José Mozairi, Lorenzo Bargas, Hermenegildo Gandix. Babo orders the drowning of Mozairi and Bargas. Gandix, who is forced to dress like a seaman, hints to Delano the shipboard situation. He is shot with a musket ball, falls from the mast, and drowns after urging the Americans not to board.

CRITICAL COMMENTARIES Exposition In 1799, the Bachelor's Delight, Captain Amasa Delano's sealer and trader, anchors in the harbor of St. Maria, a small uninhabited island off the south end of Chile, in order to take on fresh water. On the second day, a gray morning, shortly after sunrise, the mate reports the arrival of a strange ship in the bay. Delano registers surprise that the ship bears no flag to identify its nationality. As the ship approaches a sunken reef, Delano, alarmed for the craft's safety, orders his whale-boat dropped and prepares to board the vessel to help pilot it into the bay. On closer examination, he identifies the ship as a "Spanish merchantman of the first class" and a slaver. At one time handsomely ornate, the San Dominick has fallen into decay from insufficient upkeep. Its figurehead is draped with canvas as if it were under repairs. Upon Delano's arrival, he is thronged by people both white and black. Their unanimous outcry relates their losses from scurvy, fever, and a harrowing voyage around Cape Horn. Delano, struck by the unreal quality of the scene, observes four aged black men on the cat-head picking oakum. To the rear, on an elevated deck, six more men are scouring rust from hatchets. Leaning against the main-mast is Don Benito Cereno, a sickly man closely attended by a short black servant. Speaking freely in Spanish, Delano, who presents a basket of fresh fish, observes that Cereno, ill with lung disease, is too nervous and moody to take full command of his ship. Rather, he depends completely on the ministrations of his devoted servant, Babo. No other officers assist Cereno with his command. Don Benito invites Captain Delano to a privileged spot on the after-deck and tells him of the half-year voyage from Buenos Ayres (Aires) to Lima, during which his trading vessel, carrying three hundred slaves, hardware, tea, and passengers, suffered the drowning of three officers and fifteen sailors. To lighten the hull, Cereno threw sacks of mata and containers of water into the sea. As the ship was buffeted by storms off Cape Horn, scurvy killed many blacks and whites. Blown off course, then becalmed by lack of winds, the people aboard the San Dominick were wracked by thirst. Resultant fever killed a large portion of the whites aboard, including the remainder of the officers. Under ragged sails, the ship limped toward Baldivia, where Don Benito lost his way in inclement weather. He indicates to Delano that he owes a debt of gratitude to the blacks, who, according to their owner, required no incarceration. Cereno concludes that Babo served as pacifier of any incipient rebellion among his fellow blacks. After pondering the trials of the San Dominick, Delano promises to offset its losses by supplying sails, rigging, and water so that Cereno can proceed to Concepcion for refitting, and from there to Lima. Commentary A significant figure among Melville's graphic, incisive images is the stern-piece, which features a "dark satyr in a mask, holding his foot on the prostrate neck of a writhing figure, likewise masked." Picturing in miniature the entire plot of the story, the mythic satyr's tyrannical pose above the cringing victim suggests


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the slaves' domination of the Spaniards. The masking of both figures represents the secrecy which conceals from Captain Delano the real state of mastery aboard the San Dominick. The irony of this sternpiece is the overriding motif, or pattern, of Spanish grandeur--the "arms of Castile [Castille] and Leon," which appear to herald the dominance of Spain, the European nation which bankrolled the voyages of explorer Christopher Columbus, reputed founder of the New World. Delano establishes his own pattern of failing to interpret the other behaviors and symbols of power that he observes during his twelve-hour visit. Lacking respect for the black mens' abilities and thinking of command in terms of his own professional control of shipboard behavior, Captain Delano jumps to conclusions about Don Benito's ability to captain a ship. A proud man, Delano cannot imagine letting a ship fall into so dismal a state of repair as the "slovenly neglect pervading [San Dominick]." He fluctuates between pity for his Spanish colleague and contempt for his failings as a leader. Delano's error in evaluating the situation aboard the San Dominick ultimately puts his life in danger, since he fails to perceive that the men may have designs on the Bachelor's Delight as well. _____________ (Here and in the following chapters, difficult allusions, words, and phrases are explained, as are these below.) •

a Lima intriguante's one sinister eye peering across the Plaza from the Indian loop-hole of her dusk saya-y-manta like a Peruvian plotter peeping with one eye across the Lima marketplace from her dark skirt/blanket.

•

freebooter pirate, or adventurer.

•

Black Friars

•

Ezekiel's Valley of Dry Bones In Chapter 36 of the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, the grim prophet foresees how a desolate valley will return to life and function.

•

Froissart (1333?-1405) verse.

•

ratlin

rope ladder.

•

noddy

sea bird; tern.

•

sea-moss

•

dead-lights

•

Castile and Leon

•

satyr

•

San Dominick named for Saint Dominic, founder of the mendicant order of Black Friars, or Dominicans in 1215.

•

scurvy severe deficiency of vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, which leads to swollen gums, livid flesh, and collapse.

Dominican priests, who garb themselves in black.

Jean Froissart, French chronicler and writer of amorous and courtly

seaweed. shutters inside a porthole. rival kingdoms in medieval Spain.

sensual half-man, half-goat of Roman mythology.


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•

Lascars or Manma men

•

cat-head

•

oakum

•

quarter-deck

•

poop

•

Charles V (1500-88)

•

anchoritish retirement In 1586, Charles V, a religious mystic, abdicated in favor of his son Philip and retired to a monastery.

•

mata a substance found in the forests of Brazil which yields a tea that is used as a hallucinogenic drug.

•

cordial

•

ghetto

•

begging friar of St. Francis Assisi in 1209.

Eastern Indian or Filipino military.

an iron or wooden beam near the bow from which the anchor is raised and carried. loose fibers picked from rope and used in caulking. the section of upper deck between stern and after-mast.

the highest deck, at the rear of the ship. Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and king of Spain.

usually a sweet, alcoholic stimulant. isolated or segregated area. order of humble mendicant priests founded by St. Francis of

Rising Action Don Benito appears to fluctuate between gratitude and despair. He invites the captain to the upper rear deck, where Delano witnesses a violent clash between a young black boy and his Spanish companions. Delano advises Don Benito to keep the blacks better occupied to avoid further incidents. Benito replies that he brought up cases of knives and hatchets for certain slaves to clean. To Delano's question about who owns the slaves, Benito answers that he is the owner "of all you see . . . except the main company of blacks, who belonged to his late friend Alexandro Aranda, who died of the 'fever.'" Apart from Delano, Babo and Cereno whisper together and appear to refer to their American guest. Delano grows peevish with their inhospitable treatment and turns his attention toward a Spanish sailor, who appears to look at him with a covert intentness. Delano considers the possibility that Cereno is an imposter, but an examination of his aristocratic profile assures his identity as a "true hidalgo Cereno." To Cereno's questions about his men and his ship, Delano replies that a crew of twenty-five sail the Bachelor's Delight, that he traded in Canton for silks and tea and some silver currency, and that the ship is fully manned and armed with a cannon or two and the usual assortment of small weapons. Babo's whispering with Cereno resumes, during which time the Spanish sailor descends the rigging, keeping an eye on their conference. As Delano climbs down from the rear deck, he sees the Spanish sailor quickly conceal a sparkling object in his shirtfront. Unnerved by ominous thoughts about pirates and treachery, Delano begins to wonder about the situation aboard the San Dominick, then dismisses his gloomy suppositions and returns to his plan to send his second mate to serve as substitute captain on the voyage to Concepcion.


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Delano's musings halt with the appearance of his whale-boat at a distance. Moments later, on a deck below, a second violent episode occurs when two blacks dash a Spanish sailor to the deck, provoking an outcry from Delano. Cereno, who is overcome by a spasm of coughing, falls into the ready hands of Babo. Delano is so impressed by the servant's solicitude that he offers to buy him for fifty doubloons. Babo murmurs that "Master wouldn't part with Babo for a thousand doubloons." Unable to remain on deck, Cereno is escorted below. As Delano accompanies Babo and his master, he passes other Spanish sailors who eye him meaningfully, and one particular sailor, tarring the strap on a block, seems steeped in criminality. Delano also notices an old bear-like Barcelona sailor splicing a rope and engages him with questions about the voyage, then turns his attention to a sleeping black woman, whose baby tries futilely to nurse. Observing the ruined state of what was once a handsome ship, Delano notes a sailor who seems to be gesturing toward the balcony. A rotted balustrade gives way, causing Delano to clutch a rope to save himself from falling overboard. Later, drawing the attention of one of the old oakum pickers, Delano returns to the deck, where he spies an elderly sailor sitting cross-legged near a hatchway. Working up a huge knot, seemingly made of combinations of many different knots, the old man tosses the bulky object to Delano and mutters in broken English, "Undo it, cut it, quick." Delano says nothing, then turns to find Atufal standing silently behind. The old sailor disappears into the crowd. An elderly man appears and refers to the man as simplewitted, claims the knot, and tosses it overboard. Around noon on the overcast day, Delano, seeking a respite from the unfathomable goings-on aboard the San Dominick, turns his attention to his approaching whale-boat, the Rover, which restores his mind from suspicious thoughts to "a thousand trustful associations." Keeping his men in the Rover, he distributes his gifts of pumpkins, bread, sugar, cider, and water. The blacks shove their way to the water; Delano pushes his way free of them. For an instant, the situation threatens to erupt into violence: the hatchet-polishers observe his menacing action; Cereno cries out. Then the oakum pickers restore order. Commentary Repeated miscommunication throughout the rising action underscores a central theme--the inability of characters to express or understand crucial matters. One aspect of this lapse of communication is Babo and Atufal's constant censorship of Cereno. So repressed and timorous is Cereno that his coughing literally cuts off his words. When Cereno whispers to Babo, Captain Delano mistakenly construes the act as discourtesy or conspiracy rather than a response to coercion. More significant to the historical and sociological nature of the plot is the eruption of black slaves against a system that transports them like case goods from their native land to the point of sale. The commercial system which negates their personhood denies them communication until they explode in desperation--with mutinous violence. Other examples of miscommunication form a wedge between Cereno and his would-be rescuer, Captain Delano. After Cereno's pitiable disclosure of his friend's death, Delano demonstrates compassion by remarking on his own loss of a beloved brother and his vow that never would he travel with a loved one without means to embalm the body should his companion die en route. His innocent reference to the disposal of Aranda's corpse provokes more quavering in Cereno, who, sorely distressed, faints in the arms of his attendant/jailer because he is unable to reveal the location of the slave dealer's remains. Delano again jumps to a faulty conclusion--that Cereno fears ghosts. The tangle brought about by these failed messages is reflected in a single organizing symbol--the huge knot, suggestive of the great enigma presented by the San Dominick. Cereno and the Spanish sailors, who are ostensibly the masters of the trading vessel, lack the opportunity to convey their peril. As a result, Captain Delano is perplexed over so many curious looks and untoward shipboard experiences. Consequently, the captain is incapable of doing anything with the knot, just as he cannot unravel the


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mystery aboard the ship until he evaluates the snarled relationships in their true light. ____________ •

hawse-hole

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Ashantee (Ashanti)

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supercargo

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Rothschild wealthy European banking family.

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a true hidalgo Cereno

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six-pounder

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Freemason

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Malay pirates

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doubloon

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kings-at-arms

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Caffre (Kaffir)

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whiskerando

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Ledyard (1751-89) John Ledyard, who once journeyed with Captain Cook, was an American adventurer who died in Cairo.

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mizzen-chains

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cat's-paw

slight breeze.

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parterres

gardens laced with interconnecting paths.

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marlingspike

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Gordian knots a reference to the intricate knot tied by the king of Phrygia and cut by Alexander the Great. In literature, the knot symbolizes a complicated problem.

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Ammon

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double-bowline-knot untied quickly.

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treble-crown-knot

•

back-handed-well-knot

hole in the bow where cables pass through to the outside. natives of a rural section of central Ghana.

ship's manager of sales.

noble gentleman of the Cereno family.

small cannon. member of a fraternal organization which practices secret rituals. Chinese brigands who once inhabited ports in Southeast Asia.

Spanish gold coin. heralds. South African of the Bantu nation. bearded face.

chains to the lowest sails, both fore and aft.

iron pick used to separate strands of a rope.

Amon-Re, king of the gods of ancient Egypt. a jam-proof, or sailor's knot with a loop on the end that can be tied and

a three-headed knot which finishes off the raw end of a piece of rope. a knot tied the way a left-handed person would tie it. Reputedly,


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sailors are superstitious, and normally, they would tie all the ship's knots the way right-handed people tie them. There was a practical reason, as well, for this custom. If one were caught in an emergency in the dark, knots would never be confusing. They could easily be untied or retied and tightened without cutting them. The phrase "learning the ropes" has nautical origins; it means learning to tie (and untie) all of the various knots used aboard ship--no small job. •

jamming-knot

•

clout like an infant's

•

congé

•

Newfoundland dog

A bend knot and a hitch knot were both referred to as jamming-knots. diaper-like garment.

leavetaking. a large shaggy dog known for its deep affection for its owner.

Preliminary Climax Delano observes that the San Dominick's only long-boat, which is unseaworthy, serves as a den for a black family. Delano questions Don Benito about the absence of boats. Benito replies that they were destroyed in bad weather. A messenger boy interrupts, announcing that it is twelve thirty and reminding Cereno to retire to the cuddy. While Babo shaves his master, who is draped with the flag of Spain, Delano contemplates what he perceives as Babo’s ease with the jobs of valet and hairdresser. As he admits that had anyone but Don Benito told him about the ship's disastrous voyage, he would have disbelieved him, the Spaniard shudders, and Babo draws blood under Cereno's throat. The shaving draws to a close; Delano steps discreetly toward the main-mast, then hears a noise near the cuddy. He turns to find Babo, his cheek bleeding, wondering when his master will recover from his "sickness," which has caused him to punish Babo for a single slip of the razor. Francesco, a tall steward, announces lunch. Delano and Cereno sit down to fish, pumpkin, beef, and biscuit along with cider and wine; Babo stands behind Delano's chair, in full sight of Cereno's needs. Delano asks for a private conference, but Cereno replies that Babo, who has replaced the ship's missing officers, should remain. The two captains settle a price for the sails; then, shortly before two o'clock, they sit in a cushioned part of the stern while Babo cools Cereno with a feather fan. The resurgence of a breeze leads Delano to declare that he will pilot the San Dominick into the bay. He returns to the deck, finding Atufal guarding the threshold; he issues orders in his best Spanish, and with Babo's help, he performs what movements are necessary for piloting, then returns to Don Benito's cabin, again encountering Atufal standing outside it. Because of the slaves' diligence, Delano accuses Cereno of being a "bitter hard master," then encourages him to take heart and to share a cup of coffee aboard the Bachelor's Delight. Commentary The use of the flag of Spain as a symbol of the hypocrisy aboard the San Dominick is an ingenious touch. The colorful banner of Spain, with its upper and lower horizontal bars of red flanking a bright yellow band on which reposes an ornate ceremonial insignia, symbolizes the empire that led the early explorers in search of gold to the New World and which, by 1799, had given place to England and America as unquestioned lords of the sea. As Cereno, a pasty-faced invalid swathed in the flag's bright-hued folds, squirms beneath the hands of his effusive body servant, his discomfort escapes Delano, who makes no untoward assumptions about who is really master and who the captive. The ambiguity of these scenes remains untapped until Delano experiences his great coming to knowledge, a cataclysmic enlightenment of the carefully orchestrated dumbshow which has gone before.


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On the whole, Melville utilizes his dark drama to raise some disturbing questions about slavery, which, at the time these stories were published, was the subject of much concern as abolitionists became increasingly active. The Underground Railroad enabled streams of runaways to escape their pursuers, and more states entered the Union, threatening the balance between free and slave states. Critics credit the author with verbalizing the potential backlash of slaves who, living within a razor stroke of their owners, had ample opportunity to exact atonement for generations of disenfranchisement. _____________ •

Guy Fawkish like the conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt to blow up Parliament on November 5, 1605.

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cuddy

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Malacca cane

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Johnson and Byron Samuel Johnson (1709-84) and George Gordon, Lord Byron (1783-1824), both influential English writers.

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headsman

•

conceits

•

James the First of England (reigned 1603-25) the Scottish James VI, who inherited the throne of England after the death of Elizabeth I and who weathered continual plotting and shifts of loyalty.

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Nubian

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rajah-looking

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saalam (salaam)

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Chesterfieldian like Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773), the epitome of gentility, courtesy, and aristocratic behavior.

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Canary

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transom

a beam across the stern-post of a ship.

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stu'n'sail

the studding sail, a small sail beyond the yard of a square sail.

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side-light

a small porthole.

•

a-taunt-o

in good order.

a small cabin under the poop deck. cane from a palm native to Malaysia.

the executioner who chops off heads of the condemned. fanciful notions, or whims.

African native. like a chief or nobleman from India. welcoming gesture or greeting.

sweet wine from the Canary Islands.

Major Climax Cereno surprises Delano by rejecting his hospitality. Unable to account for so rude a rejection, Delano, seeing the two ships anchored together and the Rover returning to fetch him, retraces his steps to bid farewell to his recalcitrant host. Cereno grasps Delano's hand but seems too agitated to speak. After Cereno returns to his cushion, Delano takes his exit, brushing past Atufal at the doorway. As Delano


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places his foot on the rope ladder, preparatory to descending into his boat, Cereno, leaning heavily on Babo, appears to offer a courteous farewell and clings to Delano's hand. Captain Delano boards his boat. Before the crew drops their oars into the water, Cereno suddenly springs overboard into the stern at Delano's feet. Three Spanish sailors leap overboard and swim toward Don Benito. Before Delano can fully comprehend the unexpected movement, Babo jumps into the Rover, dagger drawn as though intending to harm Delano. Delano wrenches the weapon away and hits Babo with such force that the black man is thrown to the bottom of the boat. As Delano tries to hear Cereno's words, he notices that Babo has pulled a second dagger from his hair and is aiming it at Cereno's heart. At once, Delano realizes that Babo is an enemy. He strikes Babo, who is immediately restrained, and realizes that the blacks aboard the San Dominick are irate at the turn of events. As they roil on the decks above, the Spanish ship's cable is cut and a loose end whips the canvas shroud from the figurehead. Beneath lies a human skeleton; chalked below it are the words, "Follow your leader." Commentary Melville proves a good showman in building the action to a vivid and riveting climax. As Delano takes his leave, he continues to ponder repeated rebuffs to his proffered hospitality. He chooses to "[postpone] his ulterior plans" and "[regulate] future actions according to future circumstances," or, in today's lingo, play it by ear. His veiled farewell is "tacitly rebukeful." Cereno, again raising Delano's hope that his host will behave appropriately, dashes the "good augury" by averting his eyes, resuming his reserve, and taking to his cushions. Delano, offering quid pro quo, ices over his own demeanor. The discordant relationship between the two captains is echoed by the "ship's flawed bell," which reverberates dismally below deck. Delano's overactive imagination consumes his thinking with swarms of "superstitious suspicions" and hurt feelings over Cereno's spurning his evening chat over cups of coffee. Melville revives the standoff by having Cereno limp topside, leaning on Babo, his crutch. Delano relents in his harsh evaluation of Cereno; Cereno, murmuring a blessing, asks that "God guard you better than me, my best friend." The bizarre scenario that follows the protracted leavetaking astounds Delano: unable to decode the frenzied words of Cereno as he flings himself into the Rover, Delano, as he has done repeatedly, misconstrues the gesture as an attempt to implicate Delano in a kidnap plot. The revelation of Babo's murderous intent and the fervid madness of the foiled Ashantis resembles a biblical conversion by which Ananias, filled with the Lord's power, causes the scales to fall from the eyes of Saul. In tandem with this benediction descends the malediction of the skeletal figurehead, revealed above its taunting, cynical rejoinder, "Follow your leader." ____________ •

the Jew, who refrained not from supping at the board of him whom the same night he meant to betray an extended allusion to Judas Iscariot, a former disciple who left the disciples' last meal with Christ, their mentor, in order to betray him.

•

wool

•

scales dropped from his eyes an allusion to Acts 9:18, the conversion of Saul to Paul, a major figure in the early Christian Church.

•

dervishes

•

fag-end remnant.

hair.

devout Muslims said to whirl in their expression of piety.


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Falling Action Safely alongside the Bachelor's Delight, Don Benito identifies the fleshless form nailed to the bow of the San Dominick as the remains of Aranda, murdered and unburied. Babo is bound and taken below deck. Cereno does not board until his nemesis is removed from sight. The Americans pick up the three swimming Spaniards, then fire six times at the San Dominick until it glides out of range. Planning an assault on the slave ship, the Americans pursue in whale-boat and yawl. Cereno assures them that there are no working firearms available, but pleads that they not rile the desperadoes, who are intent on massacring the whites. He begs Delano not to throw away his life. The athletic and resolute chief mate, hearing that the San Dominick and its valuable cargo are free for the taking, leads a willing party against the blacks, who have no weapons other than hatchets. He calls to the Spanish boys aloft in the slave ship and has them cut the sails loose; the ship becomes unmanageable. In ensuing volleys, Atufal and three Spaniards fall dead. The mate leads the sealers aboard. Hand-to-hand combat moves from gunwales to a barricade of casks and sacks. The Americans overtake the revolting blacks, except for nearly twenty who are killed in the battle. By midnight, the surviving slaves are returned to custody and the Spanish trader towed to harbor. Within two days, the two ships sail for Concepcion, Chile, and then on to Lima, Peru. A vice-regal court investigates the matter. Cereno, suffering a relapse shortly before reaching Lima, retires to one of Lima's religious hostels for care. Commentary Greed, a major element motivating the conflict of the novel, entices Aranda to his undoing and severely cripples Cereno, who eventually succumbs to the mortal wounds inflicted by his harrowing misadventure. The Spanish, dealing in slaves as matter-of-factly as they load containers of hatchets, anticipate profit from trade in Peru. Cereno, who follows his friend in the hellish business, naively anticipates that the voyage will proceed without hindrance, even with the unshackled natives allowed their freedom on board. Elated after gaining power over their captors, the piratical blacks are cheered by the return to Senegal, but they, too, exult at the prospect of owning the ship and the remaining cargo. At the climax of the story, the goods again change hands. This time, Cereno gives up the San Dominick as a lost cause and urges Delano's men, "Take her, and no small part should be [yours]." The Americans, shouting their glee, rush to capture the vessel by moonlight. The hard-fought battle exacts its costs--one sailor loses his fingers to the blow of a hatchet; some are wounded, but none are killed except some Spaniards who are shot in error because the Americans perceive them as turncoats. A peripheral theme--the inherent right of liberty--seems obscured in the shuffle. The American sailors, suffering no real threat from Atufal and the other escaping Ashanti crewmen, throw themselves into the assault out of a materialistic interest in the San Dominick's riches. The blacks, on the other hand, have their freedom to protect as they attempt to elude the pursuing Americans. Melville provides a brief image of their desperation by describing how "their red tongues lolled, wolf-like, from their black mouths." His emphasis on their bestiality detracts from their humanity, which throughout the novel is overshadowed by their criminality. _____________ •

bowsprit

•

yawl

•

privateer's-man

a spar projecting from the ship's bow.

a ship's small boat, or jolly-boat, used for ferrying small groups to and from the ship. naval mercenary.


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•

handspikes

•

Preston Pans a Scottish resort.

•

His Majesty's Notary for the Royal Revenue attest to contracts and other important papers.

foot-long wooden levers, covered with iron and resembling long pegs.

the King's agent authorized to draw up and

Resolution Extracts from official depositions conclude investigation of the criminal takeover of the San Dominick with explanations of how and why the ship was usurped. At first view, authorities assume that Don Benito Cereno's farfetched account is an outgrowth of emotional disturbance resulting from trauma. Later testimony by sailors corroborates his story. A deposition from Don Benito, taken on September 24, 1799, by the king's notary, indicates that on May 20, 1799, on a voyage from Valparaiso to Callao, the ship sailed with thirty cases of hardware, 160 blacks, a crew of thirty-six, and some passengers. There follows a segment of a passenger census, naming José, Aranda's personal servant; Francesco, the cabin steward; Dago; four elderly African caulkers; six adult Ashantis; Atufal, a former African chief; Babo, a small Senegalese; and thirty-nine women and children. At the time of the uprising, the blacks, led by Babo and Atufal, his assistant, were unfettered. They rose up and murdered eighteen Spaniards with hatchets and hand-spikes or tied them and tossed them overboard to drown. Confining the officers below decks, Babo directed Cereno to take them to Senegal or the nearby islands of St. Nicholas. There were insufficient water, provisions, and sails on the decrepit ship, but Babo insisted that they make the attempt. Cereno, hoping to encounter another foreign vessel, agreed to the plan. Babo insisted that they go to Santa Maria to load water. During a tense period of private negotiations, Babo decided to slay Aranda to assure the blacks their freedom. Don Benito begged in vain for his friend's life. Babo had two Ashantis mutilate Aranda with hatchets, drag him on deck, then kill him and return the body below deck. Four days later, following atrocities to passengers and crew, Babo displayed Aranda's skeletal remains, which were substituted for the ship's figurehead, and led each Spaniard to a private showing along with the reminder that they must cooperate with the cabal or follow their leader to a grim death. The tense battle of wills ended with Cereno signing an agreement that the Spaniards would convey the blacks to Senegal and that the ship and its cargo belonged to Babo and his followers. To assure the plan, Babo destroyed all boats but a rickety long-boat and a cutter, which would be needed for ferrying water. A five-day period of calm intensified suffering. On August 17, the San Dominick arrived at Santa Maria, casting anchor very near Delano's ship. By six o'clock the next morning, to conceal their rebellion from Delano, Babo ordered the skeleton covered with canvas, then arranged the blacks in abject postures about the deck as though Cereno were still in charge. By seven thirty, Delano boarded. Babo, pretending to be a caring, obedient servant, remained near Cereno and directed him to seek information about the crew and arms of the Bachelor's Delight so that the Ashantis could capture it. The deposition continues, concluding with a description of the boarding battle, which ended at midnight, and Delano constraining Spanish sailors from committing atrocities against the captured blacks. At the end of the inquiry, Cereno, describing himself as twenty-nine years old but "broken in body and mind," intends to remain in the care of Infelez, a nurturing monk; he vows to retire to a monastery on Cliffs Notes on Bartleby the Scrivener & Benito Cereno © 1992

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Mount Agonia. After sailors identify the unrelenting Babo in a Lima court, he is humiliated, gibbeted, and his body burned. His head, fixed on a pole, stares inexorably at white residents and at St. Bartholomew's church, where Aranda's remains were interred. Three months later, in sight of Babo's brazen stare, Benito Cereno dies. Commentary Through his darkly prophetic morality tale, Melville indicates that the New World carries the weight of Europe's sins--notably, the theft of liberty from black slaves. The symbolic replacement of the statue of Christopher Columbus with the sickly, white skeletal remains of the slaver, Alexandro Aranda, above Babo's chalked directive points up the grim theme of retribution. Obviously, those "following the leader" and profiting most from the misery of human bondage must pay a price, as Babo sets out to prove when he shepherds the Spaniards one by one to a private showing, then begins the massacre. Some of the Europeans, like shackled slaves, die in the sea, unable to thrash their limbs against the waters that suffocate them. Others supplant their black counterparts by becoming white slaves to black masters. Although Don Benito, whose name translates "Lord Blessed," does not appear to do manual labor for Babo, he does, while posing as captain of the ship, serve as mouthpiece for his manipulator. Cereno survives the ordeal, yet his attenuated body, depleted of vitality, holds little promise of recovery. He makes up to Delano for the deception he perpetrated during the visit to his ship. Warmly attached to his rescuer, he laments that the benevolence of an open sky, sun, and sea are not enough recompense for his sufferings. The traumatic nature of the events is so devastating that he is doomed to a brief life. Delano urges him to take hope, yet Cereno, burdened by memory, finds himself permanently shadowed by "the negro." ____________ •

Senegal

•

St. Nicholas

•

Nasca (Nazca)

•

Pisco

•

acts of contrition

•

Hospital de Sacerdotes

a republic on the west coast of Africa. one of the Cape Verde Islands off Senegal. an inland city southeast of Lima, Peru.

a coastal city southeast of Lima, Peru. a sincere change of heart and request for forgiveness. a charitable institution run by priests.

CRITICAL ESSAYS SOURCE Turning to the eighteenth chapter of Captain Amasa Delano's autobiography, Narrative of Voyages and Travels (1817), Melville adapted an account of the captain's capture of the Spanish slaver Tryal, which lay abandoned off Santa Maria, an uninhabited island thirty-five miles southwest of Concepcion in the northernmost province of Chile. The event, which occurred in February 1805, Melville reset in late summer six years earlier. Delano's sealer, the Perseverance, he named Bachelor's Delight. The Tryal he called the San Dominick.


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The Tryal, setting out in December from Valparaiso in southern Chile, to Callao, a coastal town west of Lima, Peru, was the scene of a violent rebellion of slaves, who murdered their owner and some crew members, then forced the captain, Don Benito Cereno, to pilot them to Senegal, a French republic on the west coast of Africa. The cabal ended seven weeks later after the deposed captain leaped into Delano's supply ship to petition the American's help in freeing his ship. To assure Delano's cooperation, Cereno offered half the worth of his cargo, an enticement sure to please the American crew, who had worked eighteen months with little to show for their efforts. After a pitched battle, Delano returned the Tryal to Don Benito Cereno's command. While Melville owed much to Delano's autobiography, his own reworking of the bare bones of the story produced a complex and masterful tale. Like Poe's "MS. Found in a Bottle" and Hawthorne's prefatory chapter in The Scarlet Letter, the convention of an earlier source affords him a touch of realism on which to build. Subtle original developments, particularly the tense shaving scene which pits master against vengeful, razor-wielding slave, reveal Melville's immersion in the psychology of the real event and his ability to enliven history with stark dramatization. The unanswered questions that remain at the story's end are pure Melville.

LITERARY TECHNIQUE Melville, a true craftsman at creating word pictures to evoke a mood or create an impression, stocks Benito Cereno with a panorama of images and uses a full range of figures of speech, all of which contribute to the bizarre, exotic sensations that inflame Captain Delano's imagination and describe the rebelling crew that robs Don Benito of his rightful captaincy and hound him to his grave. To differentiate between the mundane sea world of the Bachelor's Delight and the hellish milieu of the San Dominick, Melville emphasizes a wealth of detail, most of it visual or auditory, to set the stage for the extraordinary revelation of Don Benito's incarceration and his daring escape. The following are examples of some of Melville's rich, meaningful rhetorical devices: •

foreshadowing Flights of troubled gray fowl, kith and kin with flights of troubled gray vapors among which they were mixed, skimmed low and fitfully over the waters, as swallows over meadows before storms.

•

repetition And that silver-mounted sword, apparent symbol of despotic command, was not, indeed, a sword, but the ghost of one.

•

alliteration . . . three months after being dismissed by the court, Benito Cereno, borne on the bier, did, indeed, follow his leader.

•

simile . . . a furtive, diffident air, which sat strangely enough on his weather-beaten visage, much as if a grizzly bear, instead of growling and biting, should simper and cast sheep's eyes.

•

symbol . . . he chanced to observe a sailor seated on the deck engaged in tarring the strap of a large block, a circle of blacks squatted round him inquisitively eyeing the process.

•

historical allusion No sword drawn before James the First of England, no assassination in that timid King's presence, could have produced a more terrified aspect than was now presented by Don Benito.

•

mythological allusion Despairing of getting into unembarrassed talk with such a centaur, Captain Delano, after glancing round for a more promising countenance, but seeing none, spoke


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pleasantly to the blacks to make way for him . . . •

literary allusion . . . one readily perceives why those hypochondriacs, Johnson and Byron . . . took to their hearts, almost to the exclusion of the entire white race, their serving men, the negroes, Barber and Fletcher.

•

biblical allusion Or was the Spaniard less hardened than the Jew, who refrained not from supping at the board of him whom the same night he meant to betray?

•

rhetorical question . . . was it not absurd to think of a vessel in distress--a vessel by sickness almost dismanned of her crew--a vessel whose inmates were parched for water--was it not a thousand times absurd that such a craft should, at present, be of a piratical character; or, her commander, either for himself or those under him, cherish any desire but for speedy relief and refreshment?

•

caesura Ah! thought Captain Delano, these, perhaps, are some of the very women whom Ledyard saw in Africa, and gave such a noble account of.

•

natural image

•

visual image . . . he moved slowly about, at times suddenly pausing, starting, or staring, biting his lip, biting his finger-nail, flushing, paling, twitching his beard, with other symptoms of an absent or moody mind.

•

aural image . . . a continuous, low, monotonous chant; droning and druling away like so many gray-headed bag-pipers playing a funeral march.

•

tactile image The wind, which had breezed up a little during the night, was now extremely light and baffling . . .

•

contrast . . . the moody air of the Spaniard, which at times had not been without a sort of valetudinarian stateliness, now seemed anything but dignified; while the menial familiarity of the servant lost its original charm of simple-hearted attachment.

•

personification . . . the San Dominick had been battledored about by contrary winds, inveigled by currents, or grown weedy in calms. Like a man lost in woods, more than once she had doubled upon her own track.

•

synecdoche colors . . .

•

dialogue "What are you knotting there, my man?" "The knot," was the brief reply, without looking up. "So it seems; but what is it for?" "For some one else to undo," muttered the old man . . .

•

humor Fie, fie, Jack of the Beach! you are a child indeed; a child of the second childhood, old boy; you are beginning to dote and drule, I'm afraid.

•

parallelism

. . . vanished into the recesses of the hempen forest, like a poacher.

To Captain Delano's surprise, the stranger, viewed through the glass, showed no

. . . in the black he saw a headsman, and in the white a man at the block.


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•

aphorism

•

euphony Presently the ship's bell sounded two o'clock; and through the cabin windows a slight rippling of the sea was discerned; and from the desired direction.

•

cacophony "Confound the faithful fellow," thought Captain Delano; "what a vexatious coincidence."

•

conceit . . . there's Rover; good dog; a white bone in her mouth. A pretty big bone though, seems to me.

•

catalogue . . . the third, Yola, likewise killed; the fourth; Ghofan; and six full-grown negroes, aged from thirty to forty-five, all raw, and born among the Ashantees . . .

•

periodic sentence

•

ellipsis "True, true," cried Captain Delano, starting, "you have saved my life, Don Benito, more than I yours . . ."

Ah, this slavery breeds ugly passions in man.

The man was an imposter.

A sustained work tinged by the atmosphere of terror common to gothic horror, Benito Cereno displays remarkable control of cohesion and unity as well as an integrated chiaroscuro, or play of light against dark. Set against an overcast day, the chaotic shipboard events lead to the enfeeblement and ultimate extinction of Don Benito's spirit, which succumbs to his grim confrontation with Babo's malice. To maintain the cheerless, brooding mood which permeates the rising action, Meville carefully salts the text with concrete images of masts, chains, rails, rusty hatchets, a sword, the colorful flag of Spain, a rotting balustrade, a ruined bell, and other aspects on and of the decrepit ship. For example: As his foot pressed the half-damp, half-dry sea-mosses matting the place, and chance phantom cat's-paw--an islet of breeze, unheralded, unfollowed--as this ghostly cat's-paw came fanning his cheek; as his glance fell upon the row of small, round dead-lights--all closed like coppered eyes of the coffined--and the state-cabin door, once connecting with the gallery, even as the dead-lights had once looked out upon it, but now calked fast like a sarcophagus lid; and to a purple-black tarred-over panel, threshold, and post; and he bethought him of the time, when that state-cabin and this state-balcony had heard the voices of the Spanish king's officers, and the forms of the Lima viceroy's daughters had perhaps leaned where he stood--as these and other images flitted through his mind, as the cat's-paw through the calm, gradually he felt rising a dreamy inquietude, like that of one who alone on the prairie feels unrest from the repose of the noon.

Like Edgar Allan Poe's phantasmagoric images, Melville's poetic vision weaves a mesmerizing texture of decay and unease which ensnares the imagination of so literal an intelligence as Delano.

ANALYSIS The characterizations carry much of the weight of Melville's themes. Critics have pondered the most puzzling of the three major characters. How does the discovery of consummate evil aboard the San Dominick affect Amasa Delano, the innocent of the triad? A good-hearted and earnest optimist, the captain cannot let himself dwell on the implications of doom that permeate the air. Set against the tempo of his vivacity are the fey languor and intermittent paroxysms of Don Benito, a failing grandee who appears to depend on the support of a body servant. Thus Melville establishes the energetic, unfailingly altruistic American as a foil of the Spaniard, who represents the dying vigor of the Old World. His point of view obscured by flagrant racial mythology about the natural propensities of black servants, Captain


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Delano represents the naivete of the New World, which, in 1799, had yet to face its comeuppance for building an economy on imported slave labor. Offsetting these white characters is the unassuming form of Babo, small, but quick to control a living tableau acted out for the benefit of Captain Delano, whom he hopes to depose from the Bachelor's Delight. At Babo's death, the most memorable part of him, his head, "that hive of subtlety," remains attuned to the comings and goings of the plaza, a disembodied intelligence overseeing the demise of a New World much indebted to blacks for its economic rise. Just as the impaled skeletal remains of Aranda haunted the Spaniards, the skull of Babo presides over a society that has yet to perceive the wages of its sin. A key to the overriding charade in the novel is the matter of appearances. To Captain Delano, who spends twelve hours observing the microcosm of the San Dominick, the figurehead appears to be cloaked for repairs; Cereno appears to be armed with a ceremonial sword and scabbard, and Babo appears to support his master like a crutch. At the electric moment when Delano perceives the true nature of the CerenoBabo relationship, the drawn knife threatens not only Cereno, but the American as well, who, in his shortsightedness, fails to comprehend the nearness of danger. In the same fashion, America as a whole overlooks the lurking menace of its dependence on slavery. The irony of Delano as central intelligence is that he naively encourages Cereno to embrace blue skies, sunshine, and gentle winds so as to overleap his past encounter with evil. Like Adam in the Garden of Eden, Delano anticipates a paradise to come. Cereno, more sophisticated than his American counterpart, speaks his coming to knowledge in one damning phrase, "the negro," his nemesis and ultimate burden for the criminal act of trading in flesh. Acquiescent to his irredeemable status, he retires to the care of Infelez, whose name means "unlucky," the monk who tends him at Mount Agonia, or "Mount Agony," the only home he will know in his remaining three months and the cemetery where he will spend eternity.

THE MOTIF OF THE IMPRISONING MICROCOSM Melville, in his chief works, applied an effective literary method of reducing outside influences in order to concentrate on a single view of characters who must escape some coercion or inner conflict. In an early sea tale, Typee, the main character escapes an unbearable shipboard situation, then finds himself a prisoner of Polynesian cannibals. Likewise, the whalers aboard the Pequod in Moby-Dick, Melville's masterpiece, are inevitably tied to the fate of Ahab, the relentless hunter of the white whale. In his posthumous short novel, Billy Budd, the close quarters of a ship again form the environs of an mprisoning microcosm, from which the title character escapes through an unjust death, meted out by a shipboard court under the captain's command. In all three situations, the main characters are limited as to movement, self-expression, and choice in a small world, complete in itself. In similar fashion, Melville creates microcosms and limits the movement, expression, and choice of their inmates in "Bartleby the Scrivener" and Benito Cereno. Bartleby's Microcosm Bartleby, who loses his job at the Dead Letter Office, chooses a law firm as his next place of employment. A valuable low-level worker who at first seems "to gorge himself on [legal] documents," he inexplicably begins to build an invisible prison about himself as he avoids fraternization with his fellow workers, Ginger Nut, Nippers, and Turkey. As his mental condition worsens, he abandons the standard behavior of a copyist; instead, he begins staring at a blank wall and refuses to proofread his work. He erects an "austere reserve." As Bartleby becomes more eccentric and less amenable to direction, the lawyer ponders how to dislodge him from his "hermitage," from which he never ventures, even for the normal procurement of dinner,


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drink, reading material, or other diversions. On the Sunday morning when the lawyer returns to the office to while away time before services at Trinity Church, he discovers Bartleby's imprisoning microcosm--the small, inclusive milieu which Bartleby has adopted as his bounds. Outspoken in his desire to maintain privacy, he instructs his employer to "walk around the block two or three times, and by that time, he would probably have concluded his affairs." The office, serving as a gloomy, protective shell with his horizonless view and intrusive, moveable screen, insulates Bartleby from the nameless fears which shadow his mind and perceptions, inhibiting him from normal human contact and, eventually, from work. His desk and its pitiful collection of personal effects serve as his link with reality. His worldly fortunes are all bundled up in a homely bandanna, symbolic of the mental enclosure which lessens Bartleby's contact with the outside world. The lawyer tries to deal effectively with his deranged copyist, reorders his own relationship to Christian principles, but is limited in his understanding of neurotic withdrawal and unable to fathom the "dead-wall reveries" which later fetter Bartleby to his place. Repeatedly, the lawyer concludes that Bartleby, the "victim of innate and incurable disorder," suffers an involuntary malady and deserves kindness. When application of biblical texts fails to improve the situation, the frustrated lawyer moves to new quarters, leaving his burdensome albatross behind. With no room to nest in, Bartleby becomes a benign residential ghost, harmlessly "haunting the building generally, sitting upon the banisters of the stairs by day, and sleeping in the entry by night." The lawyer, driven by compunctions of charity, returns to the scene and offers his own home as an alternative to the hallway, but Bartleby, who clings to the banister and overrules all suggested employments, prefers "not to make any change at all." The story's third imprisoning microcosm results from the abrupt end of the second: the outraged tenants insist that Bartleby vacate. As the lawyer later learns, the demented copyist is forceably dislodged from the hallway. Encased in his private retreat, he maintains his autonomy by marching uncomplainingly "through all the noise and heat, and joy of the roaring thoroughfares at noon." Whatever the nature of the surroundings on Wall Street, he is too confined by mental shackles to notice the bustling outside world as he enters the last imprisoning microcosm, appropriately named "the Tombs." Ironically, Bartleby's final microcosm, which is properly known as the Halls of Justice, affords him an expanded freedom from the dismal hallway in the form of regular contact with a small green courtyard, separation from the criminals who share his milieu, and a choice of dinners, paid for by his Good Samaritan. In the minuscule prison world, his immediate wants supplied by the state and by the grub-man, he purposely constrains himself with an even more prohibitive punishment by refusing to interact with others, especially his former employer, whom he holds accountable for his imprisonment. Just as Bartleby spent his days in the office, he lives out his final hours in sight of a wall and dies with staring eyes still examining the grim, unyielding masonry, as though looking for answers to some unexpressed question. It is not until months after Bartleby's death that the lawyer acquires a clue to his copyist's limitations. By personalizing the defeat that Bartleby must have felt in his job of consigning undeliverable letters to the flames, the lawyer empathizes more fully with his employee's "pallid hopelessness." By envisioning the remnants of human communication--folded pages, a ring, a banknote--he connects with the stultifying reality of the dead-end job from which Bartleby was ousted. Like the copyist, whose constrained conscious state forced him further into his private world, the letters, "on errands of life," sped to their deaths in the furnace. Don Benito's Microcosm Similar to the microcosms of Bartleby's office and prison cell is the setting of Benito Cereno, where the title character is confined not only in a minutely delineated environment but also in an even more restrictive emotional charade. The major difference in Bartleby and Don Benito is that Bartleby's primary


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jailer is mental illness, whereas Don Benito suffers a more complicated custody, the outgrowth of the greed and immorality that fosters slavery. In both cases, the central figures suffer fatal emotional damage, which inhibits them as surely as a cage confines a sparrow. As Captain Delano draws near the floating prison which holds Don Benito captive, he must decipher the physical clues that enshroud the mystery ship. There are no identifying colors to mark the "whitewashed monastery," from which peer dusky faces cloaked in dark cowls. Within the fervid, pent-up environment of the San Dominick, a chattering throng rushes to envelope the visitor. Like an interloper in a medieval fortress, Captain Delano finds himself beset by a strange progression of details: the ship itself is poorly kept, the crew projects unreal gestures and faces, yet the captain, Don Benito, presents himself in a spruce, richly decorated velvet uniform and accompanying silver-mounted sword, which is a deceptive cover for the ramshackle state of the ship's governance. Because Delano trusts his own world, where he maintains order by following naval protocol, he believes that his philosophy of shipboard behavior will suffice on the San Dominick. Applying standard manners and expectations to his meeting with the aristocratic Don Benito, Delano fails utterly to connect the slovenly atmosphere and lax shipboard discipline with the terrible mutiny that preceded his visit. Innocent to a fault, Delano does not question the unlikely behaviors and relationships of the Spaniards and Africans aboard the slave ship, where blacks wander at will, apparently without causing harm. Although he briefly considers the possibility that the ship may be a freebooter, he shoves suspicion from his thoughts and concentrates on philanthropy. Within sight of his own cheerful, efficient environment, Captain Delano, like the altruistic lawyer in "Bartleby the Scrivener," concludes that the situation calls for sympathy toward the moody, skeletal Don Benito and for charity in the form of fresh water, fish, bread, sugar, cider, and pumpkins. When Don Benito draws to one side to confer in private with Babo, Delano, who is uncomfortable with such shabby manners, takes the opportunity to venture from the poop deck and familiarize himself more fully with the ship. He surveys the crew--the "old Barcelona tar," the oakum-pickers, the sleeping black woman with her naked infant--yet he never surmises their true role. Wandering about Don Benito's imprisoning microcosm, Delano enters the starboard quarter-gallery, where he finds doorways caulked and sealed. Seized by a "dreamy inquietude," Delano leans against a carved balustrade and breaks through hidden decay, which causes the wood to splinter, nearly dumping him into the sea. His close call with the rotted wood--symbolic of the decadence which brought disorder to the ship, mayhem to its European inhabitants, and the curse of slavery to the New World--leads him to a false conclusion: that Don Benito is only pretending to be indisposed while he hatches some fiendish plot. With well-meaning, carefree banter, he banishes his misgivings: "Who would murder Amasa Delano? His conscience is clean." The atmosphere changes as the Rover draws alongside. The busy thoroughfare of the main deck becomes a mob scene as blacks clamor for fresh water and food. Delano, to keep down further confusion, requires his men to remain on the Rover, thus keeping the hellish microcosm of the San Dominick intact. He returns as the only outsider to observe the perverse shaving scene, followed by a sterile, uneventful lunch. His perceptions are clouded by prejudicial notions that blacks are "natural valets and hair-dressers," goodhumored musicians and comedians, and congenial companions, like "Newfoundland dogs." At no time does he approach the truth: that Don Benito is a prisoner of the servants who appear to dote on his every need and whim. With the approach of evening, Delano concludes his day no wiser than when he first sighted the San Dominick. His internal musings continue at a heightened pace as he exits Don Benito's microcosm and takes his seat in the stern of the Rover. At this point, Don Benito grasps his only chance at freedom from


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Babo and leaps over the bulwarks. As though striving toward a new world, three Spanish sailors, following his lead, make a similar break and swim toward the Rover. At this point in the story, Delano looks back at the San Dominick and perceives its true nature--it is the imprisoning microcosm that has forced Don Benito and his surviving crewmen to perform an elaborate hoax. The Subconscious Microcosm Although Don Benito is physically free of his detainment cell at this point, he is no closer to freedom of the spirit. Delano's coming to knowledge leads to a forceful assault on the Spanish slave ship, the evil milieu which, without its hostages, brandishes no threat against the Bachelor's Delight. Don Benito, still weak, but alert enough to express grafitude for his release, discourages his savior from further endangering his life by returning to the doomed ship. By moonlight, the mate leads a heated battle, which ends in the subjugation of the black mutineers. Within two days, the San Dominick is ready for the return trip to Conception (Concepcion) and on to Lima, where the mutineers face justice. In light of the court's findings, Captain Delano, still unperceptive of Don Benito's dark emotional journey, labors to comprehend his fellow captain's dismal mood. He points to the outward signs of nature--"yon bright sun . . . and the blue sea, and the blue sky"--but is unable to pull Don Benito out of his despondency and into the real world. Like Bartleby, Don Benito is unable to grasp his freedom. Gathering his mantle about him like a shroud, he remains locked in a prison of his mind's own making, a prison he describes with a single phrase, "the negro." The Significance of the Microcosm In "Bartleby the Scrivener" and Benito Cereno, as in other of his fictional works, Herman Melville limits the settings to carefully delineated environments, in which the forces of despair and revenge devour two frail human spirits. In Bartleby's case, a minor civil servant loses hope and recedes inward as his only retreat from a harsh, insensitive universe. Don Benito, on the other hand, carries the full load of guilt for a nation founded on the twin transgressions of racism and slavery. Punished by the horror of seeing other men drowned and dismembered and the meatless skeleton of his friend Aranda impaled on the prow, he remains alive as a living figurehead. In each fictional work, the actors, like puppets on a tiny stage, play out their roles in a sparsely populated world. By controlling the amount of outside interference in the telling of his tales, Melville remains more fully in charge of the intense emotions that he unleashes in the abnormally limited environments. This autonomy over variables is one of the elements which allows Melville such complete mastery of his material. For the reader, he leaves the task of applying the lessons of the microcosm to the world at large, where despair and revenge, for whatever reasons, stalk all people.

ESSAY TOPICS AND REVIEW QUESTIONS "BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER" (1)

Explain why Melville ends "Bartleby" with "Ah, humanity!"

(2)

Analyze the controlling symbol of the wall in "Bartleby."

(3)

Explain how "Bartleby" reflects Melville's rebellion against the literary establishment.

(4)

Evaluate the role of these minor figures in the plot of "Bartleby": Turkey, Nippers, Ginger Nut, the landlord, and the grub-man.


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(5)

Illuminate the concept of Christian charity as it applies to the lawyer's underlying motivation and behavior.

(6)

Contrast Bartleby with other misfits from literature, such as Lenny Small in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Benjy in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Frankie Addams in Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding, E. A. Robinson's Mr. Flood from the poem "Mr. Flood's Party," Hazel Motes from Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood, or Sherwood Anderson's grotesques in Winesburg, Ohio.

(7)

Debate the source of impulses that keep the narrator involved with Bartleby's misfortunes.

(8)

Compare the office and the Tombs as settings.

(9)

Explain what Bartleby's failed clerkship at the Dead Letter Office reveals about the theme of communication.

BENITO CERENO (1)

Using Benito Cereno as an example, define the following literary terms: point of view, dramatic irony, paradox, dilemma, symbol, motif, detail, tragic flaw, rhetorical question, mood, and theme.

(2)

Name and evaluate ten different rhetorical devices which operate in Benito Cereno.

(3)

Discuss the elements and historical significance of Captain Delano's racism.

(4)

Enumerate elements of Benito Cereno which demonstrate an insider's knowledge of ships and seagoing men.

(5)

Discuss the sources of major allusions in Benito Cereno.

(6)

Explain how the history of the slave trade serves as a backdrop for Benito Cereno.

(7)

Analyze Babo's role in subduing and terrorizing Benito Cereno and his crew.

(8)

Contrast Ahab, Ishmael, Captain Vere, Claggart, Billy Budd, Tommo, and Melville's other seafarers with Captain Delano.

(9)

Explain why a source such as Delano's autobiography requires detailed critical examination. Account for the work's value in textual evaluations of Melville's novel.

(10)

Explain why no single critique of Benito Cereno can exhaust all the possibilities of its complexity.

(11)

Analyze a selection of similes from the novel which compare human behavior to something in nature.

(12)

Compare the texture of the first telling of the story with the deposition that follows.

(13)

Evaluate savage urges as they apply to the usurpation of the San Dominick.


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(14)

Recount events during Melville's lifetime which prove that the New World must pay a penalty for building an empire on slave labor.

(15)

Comment on the significance of color imagery in Benito Cereno, such as the name San Dominick, derived from the founder of the Black Friars.

(16)

Discuss the irony of the name "Benito Cereno," which suggests benedictus, or "blessed," and serene.

(17)

Relate the following quotation by Abraham Lincoln to Melville's view of slavery: "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy."

BOTH WORKS (1)

Compare the narrator of "Bartleby" with Captain Delano in terms of their lack of perception.

(2)

Discuss the theme of misperceived messages in both works as it applies to Bartleby's employment at the Dead Letter Office and to the Spanish crew's attempt to communicate with Captain Delano in Benito Cereno.

(3)

Explain why independence and self-imposed confinement are key issues in both works.

(4)

Compare how Bartleby, Babo, Aranda, and Benito Cereno meet their deaths.

(5)

Decide whether Melville should be included in a study of great transcendentalists or humanists.

(6)

Compare Melville's grasp of evil with that of Hawthorne, Poe, Conrad, or James.

(7)

Contrast Melville and Kafka in terms of their appreciation for the surreal.

(8)

Propose symbolic interpretations of Don Benito's sham scabbard, Bartleby's obsession with the blank wall, the lawyer's erection of a green screen in front of Bartleby's desk, Aranda's replacement of Christopher Columbus as a figurehead, and Captain Delano's relief at the sight of his longboat, the Rover.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ALLEN, GAY WILSON. Melville and His World. Viking Press, 1971. ASHLEY, CLIFFORD. Ashley Book of Knots. Dutton, 1938. BICKLEY, R. BRUCE. The Method of Melville's Short Fiction. Duke University Press, 1975. BLOOM, HAROLD. Introduction. Herman Melville. Modern Critical Views Series. Chelsea House, 1986. _________. Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Benito Cereno, "Bartleby the Scrivener," & Other Tales. Chelsea House, 1987.


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BOSWELL, JEANETTA. Herman Melville & the Critics: A Checklist of Criticism. Scarecrow, 1981. BRANCH, WATSON G., ed. Melville: The Critical Heritage. The Critical Heritage Series. Routledge Chapman & Hall, 1985. BRYANT, JOHN, ed. A Companion to Melville Studies. Greenwood Press, 1986. BUSCH, FREDERICK. Introduction. Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories. New York: Penguin, 1986. DRYDEN, EDGAR A. Melville's Thematics of Form: The Great Art of Telling the Truth. Johns Hopkins, 1981. HILLWAY, TYRUS. Herman Melville. Rev. ed. Twayne Series. G. K. Hall, 1979. HOWARD, LEON. Herman Melville: A Biography. University of California Press, 1981. INGE, M. THOMAS, ed. Bartleby the Inscrutable: A Collection of Commentary on Herman Melville's Tale "Bartleby the Scrivener." Hamden, Connecticut: Shoe String, 1979. KARCHER, CAROLYN L. Shadow over the Promised Land: Slavery, Race, and Violence in Melville's America. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1980. METCALF, ELEANOR MELVILLE. Herman Melville: Cycle and Epicycle. Greenwood Press, 1953. SEALTS, MERTON M., JR. Pursuing Melville: 1940-1980. University of Wisconsin Press, 1982. WOLFF, GEOFFREY. Herman Melville. Viking Press, 1987.


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Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno (Cliffs Notes)

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Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno (Cliffs Notes)

Melville's Short Novels: Bartleby, the Scrivener and Benito Cereno (A Norton Critical Edition)

Bartleby the Scrivener

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The Bear (Cliffs Notes)

The Idiot (Cliffs Notes)

The Deerslayer (Cliffs Notes)

Bartleby, The Scrivener : A Story of Wall-Street

Adam Bede Notes (Cliffs Notes)

Cliffsnotes Assistant Notes (Cliffs Notes)

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Sons and Lovers (Cliffs Notes)

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Antony and Cleopatra (Cliffs Notes)

The Winter's Tale (Cliffs Notes)

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Cliffsnotes Victory (Cliffs Notes)

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The Woman Warrior (Cliffs Notes)

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Green Mansions (Cliffs Notes)

Hamlet (Cliffs Notes)

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