- Mar 2024
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learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com
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us problems: poli
"material": why not martial?
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The Cultures of Literatureand Composition: What Could EachLearn from the Other?
The history how literature is composed. What are the effects between the two?
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benitocerenoannotated.wordpress.com benitocerenoannotated.wordpress.com
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Yes, this is a strange craft; a strange history, too, and strange folks on board. But—nothing more.
Delano is a "If I didn't know any better..." kind of person.
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often playing his odd tricks
A classic manipulative tactic to throw off Delano. I believe its called a redherring. It's important to "dumb themselves down" to quell any suspicions. Melville uses their weakness to their advantage, similar to "invisible Man" by Ralph Elision where invisibility became a strength for the African-Americans.
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knot in hand, and knot in head
Clever wordplay on Melville's part. Delano is stuck processing the unrecognizable knot patterns. The old negro is playing chess, asserting his power in a powerless situation. I say powerless because their facade can only last for so long. Me
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two Captains stood together,
Authority designated to the Spanish and American sailors
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“Had you three or four boats now, Don Benito,” said Captain Delano, “I think that, by tugging at the oars, your negroes here might help along matters some. Did you sail from port without boats, Don Benito?”
Delano's observation patterns are shaping more starkly. Delano goes based off consistency and patter, not isolated instances
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“For some one else to undo,” muttered back the old man, plying his fingers harder than ever, the knot being now nearly completed.
The slick answer reminds me of the enslaved's power struggle when you're powerless. You can't change the power structure, so you manipulate it to your advantage akin to the trickster trope in a covert manner.
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emphatically
Captain is never uses an accusatory, he retains his emapthy
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Egyptian priest
By paralleling the enslaved to the Egyptians, it dresses them with a touch of dignity and respect typically uncommon in literature at this time. The "sphynx-like" posture from earlier denotes a regal aura and authority, somewhat eliminating pity and dehumanization of their oppressive circumstances. Although Captain Delano does describe some of them as savages and unintelligent, his comment also hints at an underlying possibility that they are not to be entirely underestimated. This clearly foreshadows the unveiling of the secret plot.
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was uneasily advancing along it
uneasy = off balance, physically dizzy or unsteady
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Besides, who ever heard of a white so far a renegade as to apostatize from his very species almost, by leaguing in against it with negroes?
The idea of being in cohoots was an absurb one, he wonders how does such an alliance benefit Benito?
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fox
Foxes are associated with duplicity and cunningness. Benito's instinctual people skills are on the radar, he just as to be quicker to see what's happening before him.
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gave way before him like charcoal.
This boat is a death trap.
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Had he not clutched an outreaching rope he would have fallen into the sea.
Walk the plank!
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balustrade
A fancy word for the railing on the ship's deck.
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Not unbewildered,
Double negative: a common feature of Melville's verbose prose in my observation. See the word "undistrustful" page 35.
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What meant this? Something the man had sought to communicate, unbeknown to any one, even to his captain. Did the secret involve aught unfavorable to his captain? Were those previous misgivings of Captain Delano’s about to be verified? Or, in his haunted mood at the moment, had some random, unintentional motion of the man, while busy with the stay, as if repairing it, been mistaken for a significant beckoning?
Captain is certainly a critical thinker. He's constantly surveying his surroundings, consistently questioning how things appears, yet he doesn't communicate he's "alarmed" by the suspicious activity. He's naturally attuned to his environment but remains unassuming as he was in the beginning of the story.
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marlingspike
A pointed metallic tool used for pulling the rope into intricate knots or loosen them.
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