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Response to Matt's Mind's "The Trickster...s?"


Matt’s take on the trickster figure encompasses multiple characters throughout Chestnutt’s The Passing of Grandison which could possibly signify an underlying theme throughout the work. I focused primarily on Dick Owens being the master manipulator of the entire ploy and plot, but, with the inclusion of characters such as Charity Lomax and Grandison himself, another picture is painted, one of several underlying motives rather than a single one. I agree with all of Matt’s assertions on the various bunch of characters because, in a way, they all hold manipulative characteristics that are presented through their actions. Lomax accomplishes getting Dick into committing a great and heroic act by slyly suggesting certain negative aspects of Dick's character as well as the the brave abolitionist who was captured. This displays the trickster using language as power and cunning instead of strength. The same is presented when Dick succeeds in obtaining permission from his father to bring a slave north with him. Even Grandison utilizes cunning when returning to the plantation, assuming a false facade of brokenness in order to rescue his enslaved family.
This new viewpoint on the tricksters in Chestnutt's The Passing of Grandison, may modify the theme and force an individual to look at the underlying causes of many abolitionist crusades or any movement in general. Perhaps Chestnutt wanted to write a story that portrays the faulty human characteristic of deceitfulness that seems to plague a person in their endeavors. Maybe Chestnutt didn't want the reader to focus on the characters' actions but much rather instead their motives and how these motives come to light.

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