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Benito Cereno Study Guide

by Herman Melville

Benito Cereno study guide contains a biography of Herman Melville, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

In 1799, while harbored in the island of St. Maria near Chile, Captain Amasa Delano, Massachusetts-born skipper of the Bachelor's Delight, spots an odd vessel and decides to investigate. Upon approaching the ship, Delano notices that it is in very bad condition, that the figurehead has been covered up as though for repairs, and that the boat is being manned erratically. A closer look only increases the oddness: the majority of people on the boat, which is called the San Dominick, are black.

Delano boards the San Dominick to find abundant disarray. The whites and blacks mill together aimlessly, and there is only the slightest hint of order. Four "grizzled" elderly black men, perched at each of the four corners of the deck, watch over the…

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• Benito Cereno Summary
• About Benito Cereno
• Character List
• Glossary of Terms
• Major Themes
• Summary and Analysis of Section 1
• Summary and Analysis of Section 2
• Summary and Analysis of Section 3
• Summary and Analysis of Section 4
• American Slavery and "Benito Cereno"
• Related Links on Benito Cereno
• Suggested Essay Questions
• Test Yourself! - Quiz 1
• Test Yourself! - Quiz 2
• Test Yourself! - Quiz 3
• Test Yourself! - Quiz 4
• Author of ClassicNote and Sources

• Benito Cereno: Major Themes
• Benito Cereno: Essays
• Benito Cereno: E-Text
• Benito Cereno: Questions
• Benito Cereno: Purchase the Novel and Related Material
• Herman Melville: Biography