Character Analysis Of The Passing Of Grandison

827 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An american slave analysis

Grandison The Passing of Grandison was written by a writer by the name of Charles W. Chesnutt, and the main character of this story is a slave man named Grandison. Grandison was unexpectedly receptive, unknowingly deceitful, and an unselfish character in this narrative. Grandison proves to be a receptive person when his master takes him on a trip up north. Dick (his master) believes that Grandison is a very good slave so he tests him to see if he will listen to the abolitionists up north. Grandison acts as if he isn’t listening to them at one point so he hastily walks away from them and speed walks to his master. He stated “dese yer abolitioners is jes persterin’ de life out er me tryin’ ter git me ter run away. I don’ pay no ‘tention …show more content…

He does many things to show that he is deceitful. In his master eyes grandison never committed any wrong doing and they trusted him. When they went up north grandison was confronted with many tempting opportunities to run away and become a free slave. When dick tries to get grandison to commit treason and leaves him their motel for two days with 100 dollars, hoping grandison would try something. Grandison doesn’t go anywhere or spend any money, knowing it was a test so he began to act like the perfect uncle tom for this scenario. Grandison says “Thanky, marster, thanky marster! You is de bes’ marster any nigger ever had in dis worl’(Chesnutt 598).” Grandison fooled colonel and he fooled dick by saying this. The colonel says he believes that grandison is abolitionist proof., getting them to fall for exactly what grandison wanted them to. When grandison and dick went westward, Dick asked him if he knew where he was. Grandison played the uncle tom role as smooth as butter when he stated that, the only thing that mattered was that he was with his master and that was what all he cared about. Unknowingly Dick didn’t understand Grandson’s deceit being carried out from up under his …show more content…

Way back during that time, all slaves were perceived to be gullible and stupid. Grandson’s character showed that even a slave can defy a white man. All black people then were seen as nothing and disposable pieces of meat. African American slaves actually have a brain and they can put the stereotypes bestowed upon them to shame. During the time this was written, black people were still viewed as unequal or as some type of sub species. Who would think your common slave, could disguise himself as an uncle tom trick two white slave plantation owners, remember miles and miles of directions and lead his family to freedom? Nobody in 1899 that is for sure. Grandison basically flipped the script and proved the exact opposite of what a slave could do, just as African Americans are doing today, changing the

Show More
Related

  • Summary On Myne Owne Ground

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    It shows that Negros were able to purchase their freedom and purchase the freedom of their family members. It shows a sense of equality in the way that free blacks could go to court and potentially win cases against white farmers. Free blacks owning slaves and indentured servants, some of which were white, could also be seen as equality. It also shows how free blacks had a thought of a future in the way that they drew up wills in which their family members were granted land and livestock. Knowing that white farming landowners and free blacks lived together in a sense of harmony goes back to the main theme of Myne Owne Ground. It shows that slavery is indeed an embarrassment to our nation. Knowing that blacks and whites were able to live together, trade, and be civil towards each other shows that slavery was unfounded and not

    Read More

  • Rebellion Against Slavery in Fires of Jubilee by Stephen B. Oates

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book is significant in the sense that it gives even the current generation the knowledge of slavery, how it happened and the reason for slavery. It also shows us that whites and blacks are equal regardless of the skin colour. The point of equality is supported by the scene where Nat’s plans about freedom do not work but we understand that he had a lot of intelligence to plan that rebellion. This proves to us that blacks have equal intelligence as the whites since everyone being equal. The author tries to take us back to the ages of slavery and make us suffer with the slaves so as to feel how it was really like. The author succeeds in making us feel the pain and he succeeds in making us get that clear picture of what happened.

    Read More

  • Harper Lee has a Unique Way of Capturing Our Attention in To Kill a Mockingbird

    537 Words  | 2 Pages

    This novel teaches us lessons as Atticus educates his children about racism, stereotyping and human kindness. Learning lessons is difficult, but especially for the characters in our story today .

    Read More

  • American Slavery Book Review

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author made a point to explain what slaves had better than others.... ... middle of paper ... ... He touched on parts of the slaves' lives and what they really went through, but I don't think we even have a true idea of what it would have been like in their shoes.

    Read More

  • Douglass And Bagbo Analysis

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Douglass’s Narrative, Douglass uses his eloquent storytelling skills and provocative rhetoric to both display the horrors of slavery for Whites and Blacks as well as convince the public that slavery undermines the values of the nation and Christianity. He uses his former mistress, Mrs. Auld, as an example of how slavery corrupts White women, who embody Christian values and nurturance in the home. She transforms from a kind, idealistic exemplar of a proper woman to a complete monster. Furthermore, Douglass appeals to his White audience by distinguishing true Christianity by the one practiced by slave owners. Slavery turns White owners into violent, greedy, and blind hypocrites to the message of God. Finally, he also compares the perils slave escapes are similar to the those of the forefathers who fought for this nation by referencing Patrick Henry. His own bravery for choosing between slavery and potentially fatal consequences for escaping reflects how the American people were willing to die for their their liberty, and this analogy make abolitions a more recognizable and patriotic crusade for American rights. His entire narrative is the epitome of a Transcendentalist, American success story of self-reliance and organized principles to success -with the additional white stamp of

    Read More

  • The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: The Formation of Identity

    2136 Words  | 5 Pages

    The reader is first introduced to the idea of Douglass’s formation of identity outside the constraints of slavery before he or she even begins reading the narrative. By viewing the title page and reading the words “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, written by himself” the reader sees the advancement Douglass made from a dependent slave to an independent author (Stone 134). As a slave, he was forbidden a voice with which he might speak out against slavery. Furthermore, the traditional roles of slavery would have had him uneducated—unable to read and incapable of writing. However, by examining the full meaning of the title page, the reader is introduced to Douglass’s refusal to adhere to the slave role of uneducated and voiceless. Thus, even before reading the work, the reader knows that Douglass will show “how a slave was made a man” through “speaking out—the symbolic act of self-definition” (Stone 135).

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass Slavery

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...e power was derived from the fear of physical harm, from the mental darkness of ignorance, and from the moral degradation of perpetual servitude and unjust punishment, Frederick Douglass refused to fall prey to this immoral system, resolving instead to fight back against it, using the righteousness of his own moral compass, the strength of own his soul, and the ability of his own mind. In the Narrative, the reader sees a slave who has become a man; a once vulnerable being that has taken control of his own destiny, and in the process has overcome and exposed the morally bankrupt system that is slavery. He answered an institution whose foundation was rotted with the toxic poison of power and inhumane control, with the steadfast conviction that justness shall prevail over immorality, that education shall prevail over ignorance, and that love shall prevail over hatred.

    Read More

  • The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass Analysis

    1415 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nowadays, students describe slavery based on what they read or learned. Students cannot be able to understand the true meaning behind the word “slavery.” The only people that can understand are the ones who went through it. For them, it is hard to look back from the most brutality and sorrowful years of their lives and yet they chose to write their experience. That is why in school, teachers are requiring narrative books for students to understand the main character’s point of view and apply the moral story to the real world. One of the famous books that English teachers are recommending is the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave. It also includes two different introductions of Houston Baker and Peter Gomes and an

    Read More

  • Themes In Battle Royal, By Ralph Ellison

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    The narrator is not the only black male in the story to have experience the racism with the white men. The narrator tries to get away from the racism but struggles to, he come across multiple African Americans that attempt to do the same thing. All of these provide an idea to the correct way to be black in America and it also demonstrates how blacks should act. It is said that anyone who doesn’t follow these correct ways are betraying the race. In the beginning of the story, the narrator’s grandfather says that the only way to make racism become extinct that African Americans should be overly nice to whites. The Exhorter named Ras had different beliefs of the blacks rising up to the whites and take power from the whites. Even though these thoughts come from the black community to take the freedom from the whites, the stories reveals that the are just as dangerous as the whites being racist. The narrator has such a hard time throughout the whole story exploring his identity. While doing so, it demonstrates how so many blacks are betraying their race because the have such a hard time dealing with it. In the end of the story once the battle was over the boys are brought to get their payment. That is when the narrator is able to present his speech to everyone. He was completely beat up and bruised and blood coming from his mouth and nose when he begins his speech. All the other men are laughing and yelling at him,

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And Mark Twain

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    Push yourself. Go out of your comfort zone – it is how people grow. If everyone were to remain at the same level of comfortability and simply accept what comes plainly to the surface, the world would be a much less tolerable place. Oppression, though still found about the world would be much more prevalent, especially in places like America, where people have driven movement so that things change, to prevent the infamous saying of “those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. It is important to find a clear understanding of what one came from – the wonderful and painful – to determine what one wishes to become (Chadwick xiii). Twain’s American theme of the negro, criticizes a subject that has been engraved in American culture from the start, while employing an excess of additional American ideals. Though a close contender, The Great Gatsby falls just short of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as it has become apart of the very culture it seeks to criticize. The discomfort that Twain’s narrative produces is indicative of the novel’s “greatness”. As David Smith concludes at the end of his analysis of the racism theme in his article, “Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse,” if as a society, “we, a century later, continue to be confused about Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, perhaps it is because we remain more deeply committed to both racial discourse and a self-deluding optimism

    Read More

  • Key Arguments in "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass"

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...y afraid at first but finds out that there are many ex-slaves willing to take a stand and risk their lives to help their own. Douglass realizes that with the help from the ex-slaves he could also help his fellow slaves.

    Read More

  • The Trickster Figure in Charles Chesnutt's The Passing of Grandison

    2747 Words  | 6 Pages

    “The Passing of Grandison” debunks the stereotypical image of a slave in the 19th Century. The author Charles Chesnutt uses his personal background and ability to pass himself as a white man to tell a very compelling story. Grandison was more than an uneducated farm hand doing his masters bidding. “The Passing of Grandison” provides evidence that while the society of the time thought of slaves as nothing more than property to be bought and abused, slaves could be much more than what was on the surface. In Chesnutt’s “The Passing of Grandison” Grandison is a plantation slave in the early 19th Century who through his actions eventaully escapes and aquires his own freedom as well as that of several family members. Most people have been in a situation where they wish they could outsmart or outwit another. Whether it is a peer or a higher-up, many wish they had the ability or courage to get the better of others. Is it possible for a subordinate to really fool their superior and eventually gain what they really wanted in the end? This is accomplished through the actions of an trickster figure. A trickster is a character in literature who attempts to outwit and outmaneuver his or her adversaries. The trickster uses whatever means necessary to reach whatever goals they might desire. , Trudier Harris states, “tricksters achieve their objectives through indirection and mask-wearing, through playing upon the gullibility of their opponents” (Harris, 1). In “The Passing of Grandison”, Chesnutt uses a trickster figure to achieve that one-ups-man ship and plot twists while providing social commentary to present part of his own belief system as it relates to the treatment of slaves in the 19th century. Two characters in “The Passing of Grandis...

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Narrative of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Narrative of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass is written to have people place their feet in the shoes of Frederick Douglass and try to understand the experience he went through as a slave. Douglass writes this piece of literature with strong wording to get his point across. He is not trying to point out the unpleasant parts of history, but to make people face the truth. He wants readers to realize that slavery is brutalizing and dehumanizing, that a slave is able to become a man, and that some slaves, like himself, have intellectual ability. These points are commonly presented through the words of Douglass because of his diction.

    Read More

  • Racism in Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    They give him what he believes to be victories-the opportunity for a speech, the chance to prove his worth in the battle royal, the college scholarship-all of it, to keep him running. He finally realizes it. By studying this fascinating character which , I think, represents all blacks of that time I discovered that the prejudice is one problem that we as a society have to become more aware of. We have to get past the cover, and open up the book and read it before we judge. If people would do this it

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass: The Dehumanization Of African American Slaves

    1734 Words  | 4 Pages

    While writing about the dehumanizing nature of slavery, Douglass eloquently and efficiently re-humanize African Americans. This is most evident throughout the work as a whole, yet specific parts can be used as examples of his artistic control of the English language. From the beginning of the novel, Douglass’ vocabulary is noteworthy with his use of words such as “intimation […] odiousness […] ordained.” This more advanced vocabulary is scattered throughout the narrative, and is a testament to Douglass’ education level. In conjunction with his vocabulary, Douglass often employed a complex syntax which shows his ability to manipulate the English language. This can be seen in Douglass’ self-description of preferring to be “true to [himself], even at the hazard of incurring ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur [his] own abhorrence.” This is significant because it proves that Douglass can not only simply read and write, but he has actually obtained a mastery of reading and writing. This is a highly humanizing trait because it equates him in education level to that of the stereotypical white man, and how could one deny that the white man is human because of his greater education? It is primarily the difference in education that separates the free from the slaves, and Douglass is able to bridge this gap as a pioneer of the

    Read More

More about Character Analysis Of The Passing Of Grandison

Open Document