Slave revolt comparrison of La Amistad and Benito Cereno
Nicole C.
Benito Cereno
In Benito Cereno, Herman Melville wrote about how a group of Africans revolted on the ship that was taking them to South America to become slaves. The slaves revolted and killed many sailors and were trying to guide the ship back to their home country, but how often did that happen in real life? Herman Melville must have gotten his inspiration from somewhere. Around the time that Benito Cereno was written, the slave trade ship
La Amistad was sailing around. Throughout history, slave revolts were very common on ships. Slave ships during the
15th century through the 19th century became the arenas of fighting spirits and strong will for captive Africans. Their hope for survival made resistance possible. The dehumanization was shocking, but the resistant spirit that this treatment invoked was amazing. The perseverance of the captured Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade is unmatched, and shows that their resistant spirit stayed with them from the time of capture and through voyages that would often end in revolt. One of the key notes about the early voyage on the slave ships is the intuitive understanding that upon early capture these captives were at their strongest. While the conditions were horrible from the start, their physical and mental conditions would only deteriorate over time, which resulted in many revolts happening before the ships even left from shore, or sometimes even before the captives boarded the ships. Again, the conditions by which the captives were under were extremely difficult, and these revolts were not uncommon.
The slave ships themselves were often designed with the intention of preventing revolts. Most captives were chained together as a means of decreasing their mobility and preventing any chance of escape. They were held in holding rooms in which the stench often made the captives sick and caused them to vomit. These places were
rarely
Benito Cereno
In Benito Cereno, Herman Melville wrote about how a group of Africans revolted on the ship that was taking them to South America to become slaves. The slaves revolted and killed many sailors and were trying to guide the ship back to their home country, but how often did that happen in real life? Herman Melville must have gotten his inspiration from somewhere. Around the time that Benito Cereno was written, the slave trade ship
La Amistad was sailing around. Throughout history, slave revolts were very common on ships. Slave ships during the
15th century through the 19th century became the arenas of fighting spirits and strong will for captive Africans. Their hope for survival made resistance possible. The dehumanization was shocking, but the resistant spirit that this treatment invoked was amazing. The perseverance of the captured Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade is unmatched, and shows that their resistant spirit stayed with them from the time of capture and through voyages that would often end in revolt. One of the key notes about the early voyage on the slave ships is the intuitive understanding that upon early capture these captives were at their strongest. While the conditions were horrible from the start, their physical and mental conditions would only deteriorate over time, which resulted in many revolts happening before the ships even left from shore, or sometimes even before the captives boarded the ships. Again, the conditions by which the captives were under were extremely difficult, and these revolts were not uncommon.
The slave ships themselves were often designed with the intention of preventing revolts. Most captives were chained together as a means of decreasing their mobility and preventing any chance of escape. They were held in holding rooms in which the stench often made the captives sick and caused them to vomit. These places were
rarely
Cited: Melville, Herman, Lawrance Roger Thompson, and Garrick Palmer. Benito Cereno. Barre, MA: Imprint Society, 1972. Print. Taylor, Eric Robert. “Conditions Favorable for Revolt” in If We Must Die: Shipboard Insurrections in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006. Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship: A Human History. Penguin, 2007. "Journal of Empire Studies." Journal of Empire Studies. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2013. "Benito Cereno Summary and Analysis." Benito Cereno Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of Section 4. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2013. Timothy Hughes, "Rare and Early Newspapers", Pennsylvania Inquirer, http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/559999 Web. (accessed September 29, 2013). Douglas Linder, "Famous American Trial Amistad Trials 1839-1840", University of Missouri- Kansas City School of Law, http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/amistad/AMI_NEWS.HTM Web.(accessed September 29, 2013).