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Analysis Of The Passing Of Grandison By Charles Chesnutt

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In Charles W. Chesnutt’s “The Passing of Grandison,” the protagonist is a slave named Grandison. He is selected by his owner Colonel Owens, to accompany his son on a trip north. Grandison assures his owner that there is no place he’d rather be than on the plantation, and that there’s no one he considers more of a friend than the Colonel. Still, sound reasoning suggests that nobody would chose slavery over freedom? An example of this can was seen during my visit to the “450 Years of the African-American Experience;” which lead patrons on a journey from the time Africans reached America via slave ships, through the turbulent period of the Civil Rights movement of the 1060’s, and on to the election of President Barack Obama.
Grandison is more …show more content…

I strongly suspect him of having learned to read”. Because Grandison plays the part of the dumb, humble, obedient slave the Colonel is moved to tell Dick to take Grandison with him because, “He’s too fond of good eating to risk losing his regular meals” (Reidhead 707-708). Thus, Grandison the Colonel believes that Grandison, being accustomed to eating well and being treated decent, would never consider running away. Grnadison did what he needed to do in order to say alive; however, he waited for the opportune time to seize not only his freedom, but the freedom of his family. Although “The Passing of Grandison” was written in 1901, which is after slavery had ended, the ingenuity Grandison uses to trick Col. Owes into believing in his allegiance is what ultimately wins him his freedom. As mentioned earlier, it is Grandison’s conduct that grants him the opportunity to run away at the appropriate …show more content…

Grandison pledge his allegiance to Col. Owes and vowed to stay by Dick’s side, to return home, and to not allow the abolitionists to create any doubt in his mind regarding how good he had it on the plantation. On the other hand, real life slaves suffered the atrocities of being beaten, raped, and hunger, as well as being overworked and separated from their families. Still, Grandison figured out a way to keep his family together by first, gaining the trust of his master, and then by running away to Canada with his household when the Colonel least suspected anything (715). The ex-slaves who ran south instead of north, pledged allegiance to the king of Spain and agreed to become Catholic for their

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