Many American novelists appeared during the harsh times when slavery existed. Herman Melville was one of them. Dying as one of the most unknown authors, his works returned and were very successful. Although he did not achieve great success in Melville's time and even received harsh criticism, Herman Melville remains one of the most important American novelists for his use of recurring themes and unobtrusive symbols in his works. Born in New York in August 1819 (Szumski 13), Melville was full of imagination and his father's treasures added to his creative mind (Robertson 33). Melville's father was extremely successful, therefore giving Melville a head start in life at an early age (Szumski 14). When his father died shortly after the collapse of his company, Melville got several jobs to provide for his poor family (Szumski 14). Melville was only 12 years old when his father died (Szumski 13). He felt even more pressure due to his older brother's successes as he already struggled with the desire to gain acceptance (Robertson 34).Herman Melville attended a strict New York Male High School and, ironically, struggled at a young age to read and writing (Bengtsson). He had difficulty gaining the approval of family members and his father once said, "Your little protégé Herman, although he is a supervisor at the high school, is quite indisposed this evening." (Robertson 35). Despite the negative feedback towards Melville himself, he never gave up on trying to gain recognition and acceptance from his family (Padilla). At just 20 years old, Melville undertook his first voyage across the sea; this was the beginning of his significant inspiration for years to come (Robertson 34). The sailing from New York to Liverpool would have begun in... middle of the paper... laid out during his lifetime (Spark's notes). Some say that Benito Cereno is expressing Melville's apprehension on the subject of slavery and slavery itself (Spark's notes). People in general perceived a great rigor in his works in the way Melville presented his characters and the motivations of those characters (Bloom 33). They had a good idea that Melville's readers were represented as Benito Cereno's lawyer. Many of his readers noted that many of the characters had multiple sides that made them difficult to follow. Although some found it difficult to keep up, they still pointed out many uses of Melville as a hidden symbol (Bloom 34). Although Melville went through difficult times and received harsh criticism, his works will remain some of the best novels ever written because of their unique structure, basis and inspiration for his stories.