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The Implications of Masking in Chesnutt’s The Passing of Grandison

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Madhav Prasad Dahal

Abstract

When a lost servant returns to his owner with his own wish, he is understood that he has accepted slavery rather than wanting freedom. It is an evidence of the consent to the institutionalization of slavery by the slaves themselves. The Negro captives are seen to have employed various techniques of escaping from the confined compartments they have been placed. One of such ways of revolting against the racist society is masking of the personality. This paper wants to make a study about the latent motive of characters in masking the fidelity in Charles Wendell Chesnutt’s story The Passing of Grandison.  It also studies about how some white masters are subservient to their physical drives and work against the stereotypical hegemonic white supremacy.  It makes a thematic analysis of the text. The finding of the paper suggests that, together with an anti- racist impulse of the characters, the sugar- coating of the image has a psychological reason.

Key Words:  Slavery, Masking, Manifest-Latent, Fidelity, Hegemony

The Negro slaves in the slavery era adopted different tricks to outwit their masters to keep themselves safe from physical punishment. Chesnutt’s stories deal with how they do so. They applied jokes, stories, wits and many ways of surviving in their hard times like hunger or economic crisis. These undertakings were just for the minimal way of living.  It is natural that the tiring day’s work under the strict control of the whites forced them dream of their freedom during the night. One of the techniques of making an escape from their masters was depicting them the utmost level of childlike attachment and honesty so that their masters can never suspect them of deceiving. The Negros masked their true intention of running away from their owners and behaved in a quite decent way to earn the trust of the whites who confidently could think of handing over them the higher responsibilities of their houses.

 Charles Chesnutt’s stories make a use of irony to convey the contradictory aspect of lives in the color line. In many of his stories, there is a surprising lack of compatibility between what the readers are expecting and what actually happens at the end. The Passing of Grandison, the primary text this paper uses, makes use of farce as a tool to laugh at the slave ownenr’s stupidity. Grandison, the major character in the story, uses a thick dialect repeatedly to Colonel Owens as ‘master’ and stresses his gratitude for all he has. His lack of interest to escape suggests his sincerity. The surprising ending suddenly contradicts all that characterization.  Grandison finally proves loyal and devoted, not at all to his master, but to his and his family’s freedom. In the title, Grandison’s passing ultimately becomes the passing into freedom and to his ability to make a most sophisticated escape to Canada on ship from Kentucky. He successfully hides his dilemma of leaving or living and hits Colonel Owens in the right time with a sudden and shocking hatred. At the end, however, it becomes clear that he has thought of his family and planned for their happiness even at the risk of losing his own freedom. It is quite obvious that Grandison’s masking of his true intention is no doubt for gaining freedom from the age long tradition of slavery.

This paper goes beyond the theme of masking to explore the latent psychological reasons of Grandison’s servility and Dick’s intention to free his father’s slave. This study makes an attempt to excavate Dick’s attempt of freeing just a slave, Grandison, and not all slaves from the institution of slavery.  It centers on to discover the satisfactory answers of the following questions:  Why does Grandison refuse to run away though Dick gives him abundant clues to think of his freedom? What is the real conflict that takes place in The Passing of Grandison?  Is Dick in favor or against the institution of slavery? Why does Charity, who regards John a hero in the beginning for attempting to steal a slave for setting him free, say nothing as she comes to know that Grandison, who was supposed to have been free, returned from the North just after she got married with Dick? One thing that has to be analyzed is what a man can do to win a woman’s favor.  The paper uses the insights of Sigmund Freud and other psychoanalytical critics to get these questions answered. It makes a thematic study of the text.

The Passing of Grandison, being a popular story of by Chesnutt, has been able to get a good deal of critical and scholarly reviews from different critics. This Paper picks some relevant critics who have given their words in the similar or nearby context of this project.  The paper then seeks a suitable point of departure from the opinions given by these critics. It sets its course to fill the gap left by the mentioned critics.

Many of the critics have commented on this story about the theme of masking. P.J. Delmar (1979) picks this event in the story that depicts Grandison’s successful masking: His dialogue with Colonel Owens, who interviews Grandison to see whether he was “abolitionist-proof…Grandison replies affirmatively and confirms the Colonel’s positive view of slavery. (pp. 371-372)

The way Grandison speaks with his master is so funny and innocent-like; it pleases the readers when they come to know about the intention of such masking. Myles Raymond Hurd (1989) evaluates the story by unfolding dual meanings:  “On its surface level it offers us a plantation romance with a clever twist.  On a deeper level it registers its impact as a protest fiction highlighting racial disparities in the antebellum south” (89). Hurd sees the double intention of the author in the story; one with slave romance and the other rather deeper level is to protest against the White hegemony.

 The word ‘passing’ in the title has also a masked connotation. ‘Passing’, generally refers to death. But different from this definition of the word here, it symbolically refers to Grandison’s ability to come out transgressing all ordeals taken by his master and leaving no space to doubt of running away. It is also for the end of Grandison’s life as a slave. To do so, he portrays a persona of a dutiful and trustworthy slave in the eyes of Colonel Owens. Grandison shows himself a hater of the abolitionists in his master’s evaluation. He falsely asserts his master that he resisted Northern abolitionists’ attempt to convince him to leave Owens. He further adds when the abolitionists try to catch him to join them to accomplish the campaign of freeing all the slaves from the south, he stands against them. Only towards the end of the story, readers come to realize that this is simply his strategy of successful masking.

 In response to Dick’s decision on a trip across Niagara Riverto Canada, Grandison appears to be afraid to lose sight of his master and worries that he “won’t hab no marster, an’ won’t nebber be able to git back home no mo’ (Delmar, 169). Grandison, gives his master a confidence that he is totally dependent on him. He just waits Dick as long as he pretends of dozing.

“Grandison’s manner of speech is another way he encourages the trust of his master. His use of dialect marks his social economic status and is mistaken for ignorance by the white men” (Osinubi, 57). Both Delmar and Osinubi agree that Grandiso’s dialect is a tool to prove his honesty before his master. The same tool helps him easily gain a confidence to release the entire family from the white men’s grip. Colonel Owens’ and his son Dick’s glorification of the institution of slavery is not only ludicrous but also an apt setting in which Grandison leaves them no clue of his fleeing to Canada where the British government had outlawed the slavery from all its colonies in the 1850s.

 All the literature reviews made so far claim that Chesnutt’s story deals with the issue of a clever run- away slave and his family by duping his masters. Almost all critics have opined masking as a tool to this escape. They have highlighted the masking of the slaves merely for making their way to blissful freedom. No attention has been given to other luminal implications of masking of the persona. This article, therefore aims at exploring those less significant issues which are related to repressed human psyche. It does not claim that these ignored psychological aspects foreshadow the major issue of Negro slaves’ intense longing for freedom. It rather claims that these issues are also worth noticing and they are indirectly influencing characters’ way forward or the other way about.

Charles W. Chesnutt’s The Passing of Grandison is a story of the trickster tradition. It is about the life of the southern slaves in bondage of white plantation owners. Dick, the son of a plantation owner of Kentucky, wants to free a slave of his father to impress Charity, a girl he wants to fall in love with. To do so, he wants to take Tom, a slave to the North. But his father Colonel Owens advises him to take Grandison, a little more trustworthy slave.  Dick gives Grandison a lot of clues to run to Canada but he masks a false personality of a loyal servant. Dick hires the three men to kidnap him to make him easy to flee and comes home to marry his sweet heart Charity. But after three weeks Grandison returns to his master’s house to impress his master how honest he is. Quite pleased with his return, Colonel Owens hands him over the responsibility of the house servant and rewards him with the permission to marry Betty, the maid of his house. But Grandison secretly escapes to the North with the whole family from Kentucky deceiving Colonel Owens. His escape shows Chesnutt’s trickery. The story shows that the enslaved workers are patiently waiting for a chance to come to hit their masters shrewdly. Chesnutt laughs at the foolish belief of the southerners.

When we go through the story a thirst for freedom is the most striking factor. But it is not the only thing to be analyzed. The starting event that sets the background of the story is the fact that a lust inspires the events to develop. The psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud suggests that dreams, symbolization, dramatization, etc are the disguised fulfillment of a repressed desire (Jane, 238).  Men’s movements are motivated by their repressed desire or attraction for opposite gender. Dick comes to the conclusion of freeing a slave of his father’s plantation field to win the favor of Charity, the girl whom he wants to marry. It is not that Dick is an abolitionist to work in favor of the enslaved Negroes. His act of taking Grandison to the North with him is not because he hates the tradition of slavery, but a mere dramatization. Only his latent desire of marrying with Charity inspires him to do so as Charity had clearly said that she wanted to love or marry a heroic man. He thinks the act like freeing the slave would show his audacity.

Dick wants to release just a servant of his father, not all. This becomes obvious when he hurries back to the South and reports Charity what he had done to set Grandison free. This benefits him with Charity’s hand. But just after marriage, he shows no interest in making other slaves free. Hereby it can be said that his actions are influenced more by emotional virility i.e. by id, rather than with rationality or super-ego. He narrates a man named John, who got arrested, was jailed and later died of cholera in the prison as he tried to steal a slave to free him. And Charity’s reaction to the man as a hero inspires Dick to help Grandison run away from slavery.

 Grandison masks a false persona of a loyal servant because he not only wanted to free himself but also the entire family. But together with his thought for the whole family, it can be said that he had to study all the routes of his way to North. He uses the trip to secretly learn about the precaution he had to take as he could get an opportunity to escape next time. He uses the trip to prepare himself mentally rather than the ways otherwise. Even stronger is the reason of his wearing an innocent person is because his master Colonel Owens had promised him to reward with the permission to marry with Betty, his maid. This lures Grandison to risk the golden opportunity he had got to run. His hidden desire to marry with Betty pulls him like a magnet to the South again. He does not want to miss a chance to try his luck to get Betty’s hand which ultimately comes true when Colonel Owens announces him the chance to unite with Betty if he maintained servility as always to Dick on his trip to the North.  Here, it can be said that Grandison’s erotic desires, rather than his thought for the whole family’s freedom, are more forceful to make him successful in duping the white men. Kim Kirkpatrick sees this less noticed side of Grandison thus:

Another reason for Grandison to adopt Sambo-like character: Colonel Owens promises that he can marry Betty, the maid, after he returns if he has pleased the son. The promise of marriage to the woman he loves is used to reward Grandison, while the Colonel subtly uses Betty as a kind of hostage. (107-108)

These lines indicate that Grandison is more lured by Colonel’s idea of his prospective marriage with Betty. Kirkpatrick sees this as a tool of Colonel Owens to entice Grandison but later Grandison’s return from the North to his earlier position of slavery proves that his masking of anti-abolitionist has an indirect connection with his wanting to satisfy his spiritual aspiration of uniting with Betty.

 Grandison’s surprising escape to North is more related to his suppressed hatred against the slave owners. It is to a large extent a matter of inward functioning. His inward wrestles against the abominable blotch of human civilization. He loathes the institution of slavery. So, he uses the chance of traveling with Dick to North as an opportunity to be utilized not only his escape..alone but for the entire family. He is seen to be guided by a secret and a much shocking revenge motive. He weaves his plan in such a way Colonel Owens can do nothing even when he tries to capture them back by all means. His helplessness is depicted when he can attempt no more to reverse the situation even when he notices Grandison on the ship almost crossing the border near Canada. He realizes his stupidity of regarding slavery as a chivalric aspect of the Negroes. He also realizes his defeat in the battle of prolonging slavery to eternity for the benefit of whites.

We can also claim that together with Dick, Charity is also seen to have been guided by her romantic impulses for Dick. She first asserts that the man who steals the slave to set him free from the bondage of slavery is brave hero her. She wants to see Dick to show her similar kind of bravery. This shows that she is in the line of the abolitionists who work for the freedom the enslaved Negroes. She seems to have disliked the plantation slave owners. Her marriage with Dick after he reports her about his heroic deed of releasing one of his father’s slaves confirms her identity of an abolitionist. But soon after their marriage, Grandison returns to his master. This event does not bother Charity. Her previous position and her voice in favor of enslaved people shrinks. Both Dick and Charity make no any strong say in favor of those plantation workers. Their fake masks of abolitionists become quite manifest after their indifference toward what they previously said and did. What is not manifest is their strong emotional drive for each other.

The story reflects a period of Re-construction era fiction known as “plantation fiction”, which evokes the nostalgia for the antebellum south by promoting the myth of the contented, loyal slave and the kind master. Set in the US south, the story features an amiable aristocratic plantation owner and his young heir. The story on the one hand breaks the stereotypes that the blacks are for the comforts of the white supremacists. Grandison’s successful escape shows that black people are not that dull like stones or some clumsy animals. They are also capable to act according to the temperament of their masters. They can understand the inner secrets, strength and weaknesses of their masters. They know the art of dramatization. The can also outsmart their cunning masters. They are as much and sometimes even more creative and potential than their masters.  They are not inferior in intelligence though they are always deprived of getting formal education.

On the other hand the story focuses on the physical sexual drives of both the young master and the slave. It depicts a theme of masking on the manifest level but together the latent desires of Dick, the young master and Grandison, the slave are vital energies that inspire these characters functioning all the time. Had their male sexual drives for the girls they wanted to marry not forced them ahead, the plot would not have developed in the direction to lead the slaves to their freedom. Freudian model of the workings of repressed unconscious self is found to be working actively both in the case of Dick and Grandison.  The inner drive for sexuality takes the plot development to the further climax, though the real climax takes place in Grandison’s inward planning to settle all things fine and safe.  Dick’s ultimate attainment of Charity’s consent to marry him and Colonel Owens’s permission to Grandison to marry Betty brings the plot to a safer resolution. Dick’s decision to set a slave free does not justify that he is against the institution of slavery. His decision is more inclined to his satisfaction of the latent desires.

Works Cited

Cutter, Martha J. “An Intricate Act of Passing: Strategies of Racial and Textual
Subversion in Charles Chesnutt’s The Passing of Grandison,” vol.70, no. 2,
2008, pp 46-56.
Delmar, P. Jay. “The Mask as Theme and Structure: Charles W. Chesnutt’s The
Passing of Grandison”.  vol.51, no. 3 (Nov., 1979), pp.364-375.
Hurd, Myles Raymond. “Step by Step: Codification and Construction in
Chesnutt’s The Passing of Grandison, Board of Trustees of Illinois State
University, vol. 4, no. 3 (Winter 1989), pp 78-90.
Jane, Richard, editor. Global Literary Theory: An Anthology. Routledge, 2013.
Kirkpatrick, Kim. “Reading the Transgressive Body: Phenomenology in the
Stories of Charles W. Chesnutt”, David Garret and Maria Orban (eds),
Charles Chesnutt Reappeared: Essay on the First Major African American
Fiction Writer, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009. Pp  100-109.
Osinubi, Viktor. “Privileging the African Metaphysics of Presence in American
Slave Culture The Example of Charles W. Chesnutt’s The Passing of
Grandison”.  (2010). pp 47-62.

[Mr. Dahal is Assistant Professor of English at Mahendra Multiple Campus, Dang, Tribhuvan University. A regular columnist with the New Yugbodh national daily, he is also the publisher of The Garden, a monthly magazine in English.]

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