Tahir, Mask of Deception

Melville is obsessed with the concept of deceit. In both "Benito Cerano" and "The Encantadas," examples are shown in which a guileless character is deceived by someone whose cunning marks them as having lost the sole trait that endows one with purity: innocence. He plays with the idea "guilty until proven innocent," which most Americans firmly believe in now, just as they did in Melville's time as well. Indeed, Americans have always felt strongly about this, and giving someone the benefit of the doubt is one of the precept's our nation was founded on. In "Benito Cerano," Delano, despite the foreboding warnings and his general sense that all is not right, ignores his suspicions and convinces himself that these feelings are unfounded. His trusting, naive nature will not allow himself to believe that something is amiss, even though his instincts scream at the deception that surrounds him. This simplistic innocence is akin to stupidity. Everytime a sign is shown to Delano, he talks himself out of the obvious, choosing to give Benito Cerano and his crew the benefit of the doubt. Until it all explodes in his face, he has no choice but to believe; Delano keeps fooling himself and succumbing to the illusion and mystery of the ship and its passangers. All he sees is what others show him, and to him, the mask of deception they wear can be nothing but the truth. He only sees the surface of things and misreads all the portents that things are not what they appear to be. I believe Melville is making a comment on the nature of Americans; we like to trust others and even if all the signs clearly point to one way, the thought that another could possibly be deceiving us never crosses our minds. How could someone lie to America? The best liars are the ones that lie to themselves. Until it backfires in our faces, we blind ourselves to the reality of the situation. Innocence can equate to ignorance, and ignorance can equate to stupidity if one misreads the beacons that wink at us through the mists of our suspicions.
Another example of trusting someone unconditionally appears in "The Encantadas" in the part about the Chola widow. Hunilla, her husband, and her brother are left behind by the French sea-captain. They had no reason to think he would abandon them; conversely, they had no reason to think he wouldn't, either. This results in utter ruin. By allowing themselves to trust, their innocence is only rewarded with despair. Hunilla is left with the altered viewpoint that allows herself to see the cruelty of man and his deceit. This shows that Americans do not question until after the fact when it is too late to change anything. Like Hunilla, this has led to our ruin in more than one occurrence.