Melville's depiction of slavery v.s. Douglass's

"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" and "Benito Cereno" both obviously deal with issues of slavery, and it is interesting to see how Melville and Douglass differ in their depictions of slavery. In both works, the power of the slave holds different meanings. For Douglass, power lies in knowledge and literateness, as Douglass portrays the pathway from slavery to freedom through his ability to read and write. His narrative attests to the power that literacy holds in providing freedom to slaves. On the other hand, Melville gives power to the slaves in "Benito Cereno" through rebellion. Through violent uprising and revolt, the slaves in Melville's story are able to gain command and presence in the ship, providing a very different outlook on the pathway to slavery. Given the time period that these works were written it, I wonder how readers in the 19th century responded to these works, and whether they saw one interpretation of a slave's power to be more effective than the other.