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Character Role Analysis

Benito Cereno/Babo

Benito Cereno is linked, just about literally, to his servant throughout the novella; Babo shadows him. One is the master, one is the slave—but which is which? Babo's violence and cruelty, perhaps, shows how violent and cruel a master like Benito Cereno must be to control a slave. And Benito's terror and horror at being a slave—a terror and horror so great it kills him even after he's freed—shows too the terror and horror Babo and his people must have felt, captured and chained far from home.