- The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.
- A person followed by others.
By
definition, a leader is one whom is in command of others; to set an
example and to be followed. Leadership invokes a positive connotation in
society both today and throughout history. We all want the respect and
dignity that comes with the title of “leader”. We are taught as children
to respect leaders, and learn about such leaders as Abraham Lincoln and
George Washington in our schools. Yet what happens when leadership
becomes a sinister, manipulative threat? Herman Melville depicts this
question in his novella “Benito Cereno”.
Seguid vuestro jefe.
Follow your leader.
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| Follow your leader... |
The reader is given hints regarding Don Aranda’s corpse within the description of the San Dominick. Near the words Follow your leader,
“Battered and mouldy, the castellated forecastle seemed some ancient
turret, long ago taken by assault and then left to decay.” (Melville
164) Looking back upon this quote after knowing what unfurls in the
story, I believe that this quote is a description of Aranda, whose body
was “battered and mouldy”, long ago “taken by assault and then left to
decay” by the slaves. Although possibly far fetched, Melville placed
many hidden meanings within this text, and this is an accurate
description of the slave master who was overthrown by his own “cargo”.
We
know that the dictionary definition of a leader is “a person followed
by others”. Yet what was a leader defined by in the setting of Benito Cereno? Race.
Delano was more inclined to believe that weak, fainting Cereno was
truly in charge just because of his skin color. Melville redefines the
concept of leadership in a way. Leaders are not always those with the
title of “Captain” or the one giving orders. Leaders are the
revolutionaries, the ones who think for themselves, cruelty aside.
Leadership proves an important theme in Benito Cerino through
racial conceptions of leadership as well as Babo’s usage of a
motivational phrase to overthrow those who believed themselves above
him.
Seguid vuestro jefe.
Follow your leader.
Works Cited
Melville, Herman. Billy Budd and Other Stories. London: Penguin, 1986. Print.
It is interesting to take into account that although the inscription was meant to warn the others of their fate if they went against Babo, that he himself in fact followed is "leader" into a path of destruction, dehumanization and ultimately death.
ReplyDeleteBeing of that time, Babo was of course living a life completely controlled by Aranda. He was forced to go and do what he told him to, wether it be to clean a house, or go on a ship to be sold to a foreign country far away from anything and everything you know. As this was the current standings, Aranda was in a cruel way Babo's leader. Much like other African slaves, by throwing them into a world completely foreign to their own and giving them set standards of how to live as the lower class, dehumanizing them and making them into purely property, stripping away the human soul, the anger and hatred built up for these men was immense.
It should come as no surprise that eventually an uprise can occur. Being fueled by anger and executed because of opportunity, the murder of Aranda can be easily justified through the minds of the African slaves who so brutally lost their humanity.
But, by turning the tables of control, Babo becomes just as bad as the white men who he hates. He imprisons people purely for the color of their skin. He then tortures and manipulates the people into following his path, doing that to the whites which he so immensely hated.
The ultimate death of Babo is the last sign of his never ending path of following Ananda, even to death. His voice and reasoning behind his actions is never heard, because to the eyes of his society he is still seen as an object for possession, nothing more and nothing less. A sheep that must be herded by it's shepherd, even if that means over the edge to it's demise.
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ReplyDeleteWhile reading this novella, I could not help but wonder the same things. But the last line of the novella which states "Benito Cereno, borne on the Bier, did indeed follow his leader", confused me (Melville 258). It left me open to form my own opinion of who Melville was referring to. Was he referring to the slave owner Aranda or was he referring to Babo? Benito Cereno’s original leader was Aranda, but as time progressed Babo and the other slaves took over, making Babo the head man in charge. A part of me knows that Melville is referring to Aranda, but I cannot help but ask whether he is actually referring to Babo. At this point, I just ask myself who was the true leader of the novella. Was it the constant presence of the figure head slave owner, or was it the power seeking slave who dominated after Aranda death?
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