WHITEMAN'S BURDEN IN A BLACK MAN'S WORLD
Race-based Horror and Mysticism in Benito Cereno.

Abstract for UTEP Senior English: Melville Paper

"More even than Elijah popping up a couple of times to give fair warning to Ishmael about the wisdom of boarding the Pequot in Moby Dick, Captain Amasa Delano seems to have a whole boodle of gibbering Elijahs--both Black and Spanish -- arising in front of him on the San Dominick, to only just as suddenly disappear again, rather like the shadowy sailors spotted by Ishmael scurrying to the ill-fated whaling vessel in the wee ours of the dawn. And it is with an equally masterful blending of strands of race-based horror and mysticism that Melville weaves this sea-going adventure.

"As often happens in the best horror movies, no matter how keen the audience is in its collective ability to get it, the hero seems to have both thumbs mentally glued together, and we -- the audience -- just can't seem to break that celluloid barrier in time to rescue that same numb-witted hero from some almost certain horrendous fate...."