Option A:
What I’m looking for:
6 pages of critical analysis of “Benito Cereno”
proper evaluation of critical sources and their relation to the short story
2-3 critical sources about “Benito Cereno” and/or the cultural context of the 1850s with 4-6 in-text citations of those sources (summarize, paraphrase, quote)
close analysis of the specific words, phrases, and types of language the author uses to produce an overall effect
an ability to relate the story to its time and place by referring to 2 other texts from our readings this semester
proper in-text citation, documentation, and formatting in MLA style.
Paper prompt:
Written in 1855, just five years before the Civil War, “Benito Cereno” was published in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine and read widely by Americans. But the problem is, Melville never lets the reader know exactly what’s going on until the end of the story. Even then, the court documents and the conclusion are annoyingly sparse. Also, it is hard to determine what, exactly, Melville’s purpose is in writing this story, even though he saw his writing as intimately connected to human, social, political, national, and international concerns. It would be safe to say that ambiguity rather than clarity seems to be Melville’s primary aim in this story.
In an essay of 6 pages, examine an “ambiguous” component of his story “Benito Cereno,” and show what insight this ambiguity would have given to early American readers about the turbulent decades leading up to the Civil War.
Subject of this paper
Who is hurt more by slavery, the master or the slave?
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