Theme Of The Passing Of Grandison

Charles W. Chesnutt is known for his use of irony to convey a different meaning to the reader. In “The Passing of Grandison” the very basis of the story relies on the Colonel’s son, Dick and his need for love. Dick tries to complete a heroic act in which would show Charity Lomax that they should be together. He tries to think of something that will impress her. Dick comes up with the idea of taking one of his dads prized slaves and helping free him. Despite all of Dicks efforts Grandison remains a loyal slave and does not try to escape. Dick had to have him kidnapped and made up a story to his dad about Grandison’s escape. Though Dick is entirely selfish in the way that he goes about freeing the slave. After a few days Grandison returned with …show more content…
This can be seen towards the end of the story where she finds out what Dick did to get the slave to freedom, which was that he took him to Canada. The reader can infer that she pitied him and his efforts so she agreed to marry him. Dick is seen as selfish because although he is helping someone else it is all for the benefit of his personal gain. He tried at first to take Tom with him because he knew that he would try and escape at the first chance he got, but his father knew that too and made him take his loyal slave Grandison. Once on the trip Dick tried several times to get Grandison to escape, but Dick realized that he was too loyal a slave. This theme of having a slave whom is grateful for his slavery resides in Grandison and is completely ironic. It is ironic because the last thing that anyone would think a slave is grateful for would be his slavery. Dick ended up leaving him in Canada because he knew that he had to take actions into his own …show more content…
That it is because of him having not only his body enslaved, but his brain as well. Grandison feels since he was given things from his master that he would have to repay him back. Which is a perfectly logical reason. This is why it seems as though the colonel is liked. It presents the exact characteristics of a bribe. When Grandison became a free man he knew that he would never be okay with being free as long as his family is still enslaved. This moment in the story is where the reader can see that his brain “unlocks” and when it does he can now do what he wants. He finally shows that he is free by returning to his former slave house and helping hi family