Retributivist Justice in Benito Cereno
Stephen Harris
LIT 326-05
Journal #1
In the book, Benito Cereno by Herman Melville was justice served satisfactorily to Babo according to the ideals of retributivist punishment by author Thom Brooks as defined in his book Punishment. Benito Cereno is a story about Captain Amasa Delano and his encounter with the ship San Dominick, a delipidated slave ship that has anchored near Delano’s ship The Bachelor’s Delight. When Delano boards the San Dominick he meets Don Benito Cereno the captain of the San Dominick as well as Babo Don Cereno’s slave. To the trusting eye of Capt. Delano things seem oddly out of sort but come to full revelation as Delano attempts to leave the San Dominick. At an investigation after