Kozaites, Melville, March 15th

In Herman Melville's "Benito Cereno" he uses the character of Captain Amasa Delano as a symbol for American innocence. At first when the good Captain sees the degraded ship, he is both confused and scared. Out of innocent curiosity, and a sense of goodness, he approaches the ship to quell his thirst for explanation. Upon arriving he meets the sickly Don Benito. Throughout the narrative Captain Delano tries to figure out just exactly what is going on there to no avail. One of his final conclusions is that Don Benito is a pirate, although shortly thereafter he realizes the truth of mutiny. The fact that it took Delano so long to realize this hints to his innocence, thinking that everything is as it seems. He thought Benito was acting strangely because he was evil or dumb. He always searched for the least vile explanation in any situation such as the one he found himself in. Captain Delano, the American, is further shown as being innocent as he does not realize the possibility that the Spaniards were treating the slaves so badly, the only option on their apart was brutal mutiny. The fact that Delano was a northerner also represents the general apathy that northerners had towards slaves in the early days of America. Herman Melville was very good at using symbolism in this way.