Topic > "Analysis of The Passing of Grandison

“The Passing of Grandison” is told in the third person and limited primarily to the consciousness of Dick Owens, the cynical and lazy young heir to a large plantation in Kentucky. His desire to win the hand of his lover Charity Lomax leads him on a mission to accomplish something of humanitarian importance, given his character and the contradictions of the South, however, his efforts can only have an ironic result by analyzing the meaning of each character and Chesnutt's work it can be shown that the true meaning of the story is that some people are not faithful to you, they are faithful to their need for you. Once their needs change, their loyalties change too. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made “Why” essay. Shouldn't violent video games be banned? Get an Original Essay In Chesnutt's short story, there was a young man named Dick Owens who "tried to chase one of his father's 'nigger' men away to Canada," to impress the love of his life Charity Lomax Owens is a young "intelligent, beautiful, lovable, but extremely indolent" twenty-two-year-old who wanted nothing more in life than to impress his beloved Charity Lomax so that she would marry him. To do this, Dick plans a journey north with his faithful servant Tom, which was later disavowed by the Colonel, Dick's father. With the Colonel's approval, Dick travels north but not with the one servant he knew would be good bait, but with a man named Grandison. Although Grandison made it clear that he would not leave his master stating "I'm better, suh, dan dem low level free niggas, suh!". Owens manages to escape from the North, leaving Grandison behind. Dick and Charity Lomax get married when he returns with the good news, which wasn't too impressive in his eyes. Grandison ends up finding his way home with a risky story of his journey home, which reminded me of Dunbar's poem when he stated “With hearts torn and bleeding we smile. The Colonel, disconcerted by the arrival of the lost slave, rewards Grandison with tobacco and whiskey. Grandison became famous in the small town and obtained a place in the house as his master's right-hand man. Just a few weeks later, however, Grandison and the entire family had disappeared from the plantation. Throughout the tale, Grandison is portrayed as a faithful and ignorant slave who loves his master and the safety and protection he enjoys on the plantation. Dick achieves his goal by hiking North with a single slave. At first he chooses a slave who he knows will try to escape when there is an open door. The deal is confused by Colonel Owens, who asks him to run with Grandison. The Colonel trusts that Grandison is resolute and abolitionist, that is, insensitive to people who might tempt him to flee. Certainly, the Colonel tests Grandison, who ensures his master recognizes his subordination, mocks free African Americans, and fears abolitionists. Chesnutt sometimes uses a double layer of irony. Knowing that his readers will be privy to stories of runaway slaves using the North Star as a guide to freedom, he ironically describes Grandison leaving Canada for Kentucky with the North Star behind him. “One of the scoundrels wanted to kill him and persuaded the others to do so; but they began to quarrel as to how they should do it, and before they had made up their minds, Grandison fled, and, constantly turning his back on the Pole Star, made his way, after enduring incredible hardships, back to the old plantation, back to his master, to his friends and his home” (Chesnutt). At first, this seems to reinforce the idea that Grandison is.