Benito Cereno (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Herman Melville
- First Published: 1855
- Type of Plot: Adventure
- Time of Work: 1799
- Setting: The harbor of St. Maria, off the southern tip of Chile
- Principal Characters: Amasa Delano, Benito Cereno, Babo, Atufal
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Murder or homicide
- Locales: Lima, Peru
The Story
Captain Amasa Delano anchors his ship, the Bachelor's Delight, in the harbor of St. Maria to take on water and food. The next day a Spanish ship, the San Dominick, also drifts into the harbor. Seeing the ragged state of the sails and the generally poor condition of the ship, Delano loads several baskets of fresh fish onto his whaleboat to present to the other vessel.
As soon as he steps on board, he is surrounded by blacks and whites lamenting their calamitous voyage marked by plague, hunger, thirst, and contrary winds. Moved by their story,...
[The entire page is 1773 words long]
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