Don Benito Cereno: No Future without the Past

A. P. English September 22, 2012 No Future Without the preceding(a) By Bernice Mojica But the past is past why moralize upon it? allow it. See, yon gifted sun has forgotten it all, and the blue sea, and the blue huckster these have morose over new leaves. Because they have no memory, he dejectedly replied because they atomic number 18 non human. But these mild trades that now sports fan your cheek, feign Benito, do they not come with a human-like healing to you? limber up friends, steadfast friends atomic number 18 the trades. With their steadfastness they but waft me to my tomb, Senor, was the foreboding response. You are deliver, Don Benito, cried passe-partout Delano, more and more astonished and pained you are saved what has cast such a shadow upon you? The total darkness. (pg. 75) -Melville, Herman. Benito Cereno. New York capital of Delaware Publications, Inc. , 1990 Don Benito Cerenos epiphany over the mistake of underestimating the Negroes keeps him moralize d upon the past, quite an than accepting his wrongly doings and modifying them into optimistic beneficial accomplishments.To prove that his way of thinking is guardianship him from moving on, Captain Delano advices him that, the past is past why moralize upon it? Delano is allow him know that he cant hold himself back from a great proximo based on a rotten past. Although selfishness is looked upon as a sinful thought, pleasing ones self is motionless considered a good intention. Delano comforts Cereno by indirectly assuring him that he should never regret what has been done, because during the moment of that action, there was always a credible purpose to be take noteed.Those experiences taught him how to become a better human macrocosm hence, if he didnt go through any of that, he would not have the current regretful feelings he has at the end of the novel. Delano alludes to Benito that if the macrocosm is able to metamorphose, then so can he See, yon bright sun has forgo tten it all, and the blue sea, and the blue sky these have turned over new leaves. These are all forms of our dynamic nature which set Benitos static character. DonBenito comes to realize that the population he had once tormented is the same as those who have morally and mentally saved him. This is translated when Captain Delano asks him, you are saved what has cast such a shadow upon you? and Cereno replies that the Negro is what has cast the shadow upon him. The Negroes aboard the San Dominick represent blackness. Therefore, Cereno is implying that blackness is the slimy within human nature, which the black ethnic group metaphorically represents.Blackness is a connotation of an actual color, and in this case, it is also the live image of what us humans believe stands for worthlessness and diabolic. This comparison is an oxymoron to what Cereno is referring to. If you recall, Cereno had stated that he was saved because of this blackness which I had just mentioned was unholy. T his contradiction establishes how there is no future without the past how you cannot grow without a base to keep yourself standing. There is no need for change if there is nothing destructive keeping you from arrive at your goals.Cereno believes he himself was the destructiveness keeping the Negroes from fulfilling their wishes of being able to see their families again. This brings about the empathy that the contributor feels towards him in the end. With this passage being at the end of the novel, it clearly exhibits a stable theme for the novel as a whole. Race seems to be the common denominator throughout the story. This is supported by the fact that it was written during the 1850s when slavery was most popular.Melville seems to realize that this sort of power over early(a) humans was morally wrong and he did not agree with what was socially acceptable. Our generations have been taught that we should never judge a book by its cover, therefore, we should not judge a man by his c olor. You should never underestimate a man based on what he doesnt have, but rather estimate his power based on what he does have. Now that Don Benito Cereno comes to terms with the equality of all men, he took the first step into admitting his mistakes and chooses to follow a leader rather than being one.