Melville Peer Review, Essay Example

Captain Delano did not believe in the possibilities of humanity showing different traits, such as lying and being evil, when the ship approached the shore. Any intelligent person could have noticed that the vessel was suspicious; but, due to the captain's humanness, he laid there watching the ship approach the shore. When the captain boarded the vessel with Negroes' slaves, he made it his job to help take care of them. He believed everything they said without suspecting them for lying. Different signs show that the slaves are not telling the truth and they are in control of the ship, and the Spanish captain is their captive. They attempt covering up everything, which affects his position as his goal in the network is to ascertain their fair treatment. Captain Delano patient tries to unravel and understand the situation before jumping to any conclusions, and as such he fails to notice most of the attacks occurring on the ship.

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Even though Babo and his friends instigate the slaves' revolt on the ship, they are also victims since they were captured from their homes unwillingly. They, therefore, become savages. They are separated from their dear families, which cause distress and despair; prompting the revolt. Coming from a minority tribe, they are looked down upon and mistreated, which culminates in their revolting to take back their freedom and rights on the ship. As the boat approaches the shore, Captain Delano fails to take action and gather facts on the ship's rough shape and why it approached the shore as it did and at that time. Fundamentally, he obliviously believed the slaves without any due diligence on the precise circumstances within the vessel.

Responses

Student 1

I concur. Indeed, he ignorantly assumes the blacks on board are captives. Evidently, this shows his bias and stereotypical thinking that blacks can only be slaves as opposed to be in control. When it comes to Babo, he is the true reincarnation of slyness, plotting and cunningness. He is self-centered and will do just about anything to gratify himself.

Student 2

Truthfully the captain is blind. Nonetheless, I also feel that the times might also have influenced his attitude since blacks were looked down upon, which might explain why he felt they could not be in control.

Student 3

Well put. Bartleby is a character representative of most of us when we reach the breaking point. He politely refused the narrator's request to review one of the copied assignments. Similarly, we all have to refuse doing what we have always done to make change and progress. Albeit he felt as though he was at his end, he still shows that we all have to reckon our situations are not right to make positive change. His quitting shows that we have to stop doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Instead, we have to change our methodology to expect different results.

Student 4

I would not say it is a confusing story but I think you might have something there. Explicating such a story will definitely produce diverse viewpoints. Perhaps reading dead people's letters in isolation culminated in his mental break down. Nonetheless, do you not think that maybe it is representative of human order? Sometimes stagnation can lead to mental tire and cracking?