“The Passing of Grandison” is a short story written by Charles Waddell Chesnutt and features in the collection The Wife of His Youth, and Other Stories of the Color Line published in 1899. Taking place in the 1850s, it has Richard “Dick” Owens, the son of the slave owner Colonel Owens, attempt to free one of his slaves to impress Charity Lomax. The reader is blinded to the truth in the story, which is the opposite to what they are actually seeing in an ironic twist. Dick grows in character through his endeavor, while Grandison, while willingly plays the part of the model slave, has his own plan which Dick unknowingly plays a part in. Colonel Owens is deceived by his hubris on his knowledge of blacks, but Dick is also guilty of this although he is trying to free one of them.

In the beginning of the story, the narrator observes that “what a man will not do to please a woman is yet to be discovered” (Chesnutt 1). This is followed up by a statement setting up the explanation for “why young Dick Owens tries to run one of his father’s negro men off to Canada” (Chesnutt 1). Because the white Dick Owens is mentioned by name, unlike the “negro”, there is the sense that he is what the observation is referring to, confirming it. No one would suspect that it would actually be the unnamed “negro” that the statement is referring to. This also comments on how during Chesnutt’s time, the white narrative plots always appeared to be the main interest for readers, even in stories where the most important events happen to black characters. In a later scene Dick’s crush Charity Lomax who tells him “I’ll never love you, Dick Owens, until you have done something. When that time comes, I’ll think about it” (Chesnutt 2). This inspires Dick to go to Canada with one of his father’s slaves, although he ends up misinterpreting the full meaning of what she had said to him. She later marries him not because he has finally done something, but because of his recklessness: he needs someone to look after him to keep him from doing something. She didn’t expect Dick to do something so daring, and ironically, Dick ends up agreeing with her on this point, “proving beyond question that they were made for one another” (Chesnutt 8). Dick has been an immature character: first he was spoiled by his father’s wealth and was “lazy as the Devil” (Chesnutt 1). The simile here really speaks to the immorality of his wealth since it comes from slavery. But now that he is marrying Charity, that may represent him entering maturity, and her name is a metaphor for the act of charity that Dick has undertaken in freeing his slave. “Lomax” is the same: representing Dick going from low to high.

Dick quickly tries to find a slave named Tom, who he knows that if there was anything that he wanted, “it was a trip North” (Chesnutt 2). He is assumed as the “negro” mentioned in the opening paragraph, but this is wrong. Because Colonel Owens has put two and two together on Tom, he makes Dick take Grandison instead. Colonel Owens warns the slave of the apparent dangers that the abolitionists pose to his quality of life and happiness. He also tells him that if he pleases Dick, “he’ll buy you a present, and a string of beads for Betty to wear when you and she get married in the fall” (Chesnutt 4). This is a hidden threat against the woman that Grandison loves, with the “string of beads” as a metaphor for the bondage that Betty will find herself in if Grandison doesn’t behave. Grandison is all too happy to oblige the Colonel’s fantasies, asking him if “Dey won’t try ter steal me?” (Chesnutt 4) While this on the surface is asked in alarm, it is really Grandison conveying a hope to be free, but because this question is so subtle and has double meaning, the Colonel misses it. Grandison has said this in order to gain more trust with the Colonel. Satisfied, the Colonel then tells his son that Grandison is “abolitionist proof” (Chesnutt 4). It is made clear by the narrator that the Colonel, having studied his slaves for many years, “understands them perfectly”, and his ability to see Tom as too eager for escape misleads the reader into thinking that it might be true (Chesnutt 3).

However, this will later be proven as false. Despite his self confidence, the Colonel fails to understand the minds of not just his slaves, but all black people, and this is revealed as the greatest irony of all. The plot turns to the Colonel’s socially engineered ideas about others. If they were true, then he would have discovered that Grandison’s submissive and obedient character was a farce, as if it was not then the slave’s plan wouldn’t have occurred. However, Grandison returns after having the opportunity for freedom in the North, and for the Colonel and the reader, this confirms that he really does have a special ability to see the mind of his slaves and that Grandison “never had any notion of running away” (Chesnutt 8). The final revelation that Grandison has escaped with his family proves that the colonel not only has hubris about his own ability to read minds, but also about Grandison’s loyalty to him.

But Dick is not squeaky clean, as although he is attempting to free Grandison, he is doing it for selfish reasons. Despite this, he is smarter and more advanced in mind than his father. While his father chooses ignorance and this causes him to be outright malicious, Dick fails to understand the “negro” due to his innocent obliviousness to reality. This creates some amazing ironic imagery on Grandison’s path finally tasting freedom: “Retracing his footsteps toward the Falls, he saw, to his great disgust, as he approached the spot where he had left Grandison, the familiar form of his servant stretched out on the ground, his face to the son, his mouth open, sleeving the time away, oblivious alike to the ‘grandeur of the scenery, the thunderous roar of the cataract, or the insidious voice of sentiment” (Chesnutt 7). This is ironic because all of Grandison’s actions and words, motivated by his far deeper understanding of white society than the Colonel’s understanding of slave society, are meant to deceive. Notably, Dick here is taking a similar view to his father on black people, seeing them as not intellectually advanced enough to know the minds of blacks, and it appears as if Dick has given up on freeing Grandison. However, Dick succeeds in returning home without Grandison before the latter returns and frees his family, so it did work out in a way for Dick in the end.

The beauty and core device of the story lies in its irony. Dick is simply a pawn in Grandison’s game to free his family, but still finds redemption and passes to maturity. Grandison plays the part of the willful slave. While Dick has ignorance on blacks, it is due to his innocence, while the Colonel’s ignorance is willful. This made the story stand out in a time when slavery had only been abolished for about 40 years, with Jim Crow laws in the South and “Lost Cause” stories whitewashing the institution and exalting the Confederacy. Chesnutt delivers an antithesis to these narratives.

Works Cited

Chesnutt, Charles Waddell. The Passing of Grandison. Boston: ProQuest, 1899. Document, http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fdocview%2F2138585999%3Faccountid%3D14771.