Two Notes on Benito cereno.

The article focuses on the book "Benito Cereno," by Herman Melville. The word, mute, appears frequently in the book. If the reader notices the word at all and do not merely assimilate it to muteness, he or she would probably read it as having an eastern reference. This goes to reinforce the suggestion of Cereno's tyrannical power over his slaves. It is a comment that seems to be central for a moral placing of the actions of the blacks. The black uprising in San Domingo had Jacobin support and that connection was not forgotten.