Throughout “The Passing of Grandison”, Charles Chesnutt uses metaphoric masks to conceal the emotions of the characters to build up to a surprising conclusion. Characters such as Grandison, Dick Owens, and Colonel Owens all wore masks to cover their tracks throughout the narrative. As Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” may suggest, all wore visors of contentment and loyalty, whereas the inner workings of their secret lives depict another more sinister exchange of emotions.
Dick Owens appears at first to be a lazy person, to whom wealth and social status have been handed through the hard work of his father’s climb of the social ladder. While Colonel Owens seems to have worked hard to secure his place in society, the real work lay at the hands of the slaves whom he built his fortune on the backs of. It was not his own hard work that made his plantation successful; it was instead the work of his slaves. Dick Owens is initially described as lazy, however he has shown planning and the persistence to implement his attempt to let Grandison escape from the grasp of slavery. Whereas he claims to sympathize with the slaves who have been abused by such harsh masters as Sam Briggs, he is only helping Grandison escape for the sake of doing so to impress his fiancée, not for the decency and rectitude of giving a man his freedom. Although he chastises the slave owner who harms his slaves, Dick Owens even contemplates killing Grandison out of frustration for his lack of willingness to escape. Dick also wears the facade of loyalty to his father, when he is actually plotting to free one of his father’s slaves in effect costing his father monetary loss. Although he tells his father he needs to go on the trip because he is feeling derelict and will accomplish more upon his return home if he has been away for a while, his true intentions are to work more on his trip by helping Grandison escape.
Meanwhile, Grandison wears a tightly woven mask of ignorance and contentment towards his current placement under the disparaging power of slavery in the southern
Grandison seems to be sincere in his fear of being left behind in
We smile, but O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the Clay is Vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask! [1]
Whereas Grandison appears content with his place on the Owens plantation, he is wearing a mask to conceal his true emotions to provide the necessary conditions under which he may escape his plight.
Whereas the title the “Passing” of Grandison lends itself for interpretation, many would suggest that it intends to suggest that in his escape plan Grandison is passing for white. Although one may read the entire narrative analyzing every word and not find the slightest evidence to suggest the aforementioned, there are other possible explanations for Chesnutt’s word choice. Grandison may have been “passing” for being a slave. As a slave he was assumed to be ignorant, illiterate, and loyal to his master. His passing as an obedient slave is the very factor that leads to the success of his escape plan. “Passing” might also refer to Grandison’s passing for being an advocate for slavery. Whereas his true intentions are clearly abolitionist in theory and practice, his remarks to Colonel Owen provide himself a pretense to seem content with his place within the hierarchy of slavery.
The masks worn by the people of the south in “The Passing of Grandison” very likely reflect the masks worn by real people living in the south before the emancipation proclamation was issued. For example, it is unlikely that slaves would verbally admit to hating slavery in the presence of their slave-owner, and if asked their opinion would have agreed with their “master” to avoid a vindictive response such as the violence of Sam Briggs. Like Dick Owens, many of the whites of the south may have sympathized with the plight and felt slavery was wrong, however complied with it because it was lawfully right, regardless of its moral wrongs. Just as Dick Owens admits he sympathizes with escaped slaves but it is not in his legal duty or “principles”[2] to help an escaped slave. Whereas he appeared to be dutifully obedient to the laws of slavery, he was intent upon freeing one of his father’s slaves. Just as Dick Owens took steps to try and help his slave escape, many southerners were participants in the Underground Railroad and made it their mission to help slaves escape the trepidation of slavery. In reality, many people involved with helping escaped slaves encountered only a few opportunities to do so without legal ramifications, just as Dick Owens did what he could to free a slave without being caught. Charles Chesnutt’s “The Passing of Grandison” is an excellent reflection of the masks worn by people of the south in the era of controversy surrounding slave-ownership.
Works Cited
Norton Anthology of American Literature Vol. II. W.W. Norton and Company.
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