The Trick of the Trickster

The Trick of the Trickster

Charles Chesnutt is a writer with large aspirations and great seriousness. At a time when the nation was tired of having to face the “race problem,” he wanted his fictional stories to treat slavery and its aftermath in a more comical way. This is how he has become known as a trickster in the literary world. He allows his stories to have a trick in the story and a trick of the story. His intentions are often difficult to read in the beginning, but by the end he leaves his readers in awe because the real trick was played on them. “The Passing of Grandison” is a good example that shows his “tricksterism”. This story shows the arrogance of whites playing a trick on the “ignorance” of slaves, but in actuality the real trick, is being played on the reader.

Charles Chesnutt presents to his readers, a slave named Grandison whose only expectation appears to be serving his master. Grandison, a slave to young Dick Owens, is portrayed to be ignorant because he sees nothing wrong with being and remaining a slave. The reader knows this because when Grandison is questioned by the colonel, about how his treatment of slavery is, he responds by saying, “Well, I sh’d jes’ reckon I is better off, suh, dan dem low-down free negros, suh! Ef anybody as ‘em who dey b’long ter , dey has ter say nobody, er e’se lie erbout it. Anybody as me who I b’longs ter, I ain’ got no ‘casion ter be shame’ter tell ‘em, no, suh, ‘deed I ain’, suh!”(pg 616). This is why Grandison is chosen to go on a trip to the North as Dick’s “caretaker”: because according to Colonel Owens he will not risk running away because, “he’s too fond of good eating, to risk his regular meals; besides, he’s sweet on your mother’s maid, Betty, and I’ve promised to let ‘em get married before long” (pg 616).

This is where the trick in the story begins. Dick Owens, Grandison’s young master, is tempted by his girlfriend to perform some non-selfish act in hopes of her marrying him. During a trial of a young white man convicted and sentenced for trying to free a slave, Charity Lomax, Owen’s girlfriend, finds the daring act of this young white man, to be very unselfish and heroic. She tells Dick that the defendant “dared something for humanity. I could love a man who would take such chances for the sake of others” (pg 614). All that the young master wants is to be loved by Lomax. Thinking that he could do the same as this young white man and ultimately receive her love, he contemplates the idea of going up North, taking one of his father’s slaves, and freeing them. Owens is deceitful by tricking his father into thinking he needed to get away. Once up North, Owens gives Grandison every opportunity to run away and be free. But Grandison seemingly right, will not fall for the trick that Owens is trying to play. Finally Owens, tired of Grandison not falling for his trick, takes Grandison to Canada and verbally persuades him to runaway because Canada is “where your people go when they run away from their masters” (pg 620). Grandison keeps up his facade of wanting to remain a slave by pretending to be afraid, saying, “Let’s go back ober de ribber , Mars Dick. I’s feared I’ll lose you ovuh heah, an’ den I won’ hab no marster, an’ won’t nebber be able to git back home no mo’ ” (pg 620). Dick tries again to ditch Grandison and takes advantages of him, by slipping away while he is asleep on the ground, waiting for his young master. Grandison is left in Canada, only to return back to the colonels’ home three weeks later, claiming to have been kidnapped by some people that claimed he was a slave catcher spying on runaway slaves. Before he returns home though, Dick tells his father that Grandison has run away, causing the colonel some anger and heartache, feeling betrayed by a slave he trusted. The reader is convinced into thinking that Grandison has been meanly tricked into being a runaway slave by his young master but in actuality it is Grandison that is playing the trick in the story and on the reader. When Grandison returns home after being left in Canada, the reader is back to feeling that Grandison is an ignorant slave that did not take the chance he had to run away. This is what Grandison wants from his owners, and the reader. He wants to be considered “dumb” so his trick can be played out and he can get what he ultimately wants; freedom. This is how Chesnutt uses his “tricksterism” in this story.

Although Grandison is considered to be a runaway, he returns back to his master, with love for his slaveholders, and earns himself new quarters in the masters’