Oh, the Irony

Charles Chesnutt's "The Passing of Grandison" is a story with hidden ironies, both verbal and situational. Let's take a look:

A first example of verbal irony is written in narrative about Owens' determination to lead Grandison to freedom. The narrator says:
"When two weeks had passed without any apparent effect of evil example upon Grandison, Dick resolved to go on to Boston..."
Here, I believe the author is using "effect of evil" as irony against Colonel Owens' opinion of the abolitionists up North who try to persuade visiting Southern slaves to run away. The author doesn't really believe these free blacks' intent is evil at all, but the opposite - it is virtuous. Their intentions are, anyway.

The second example of verbal irony I found was during their stay in Boston:
"Dick sent [Grandison] on further errands from day to day, and upon one occasion came squarely up to him - inadvertently of course - while Grandison was engaged in conversation with a young white man in clerical garb."
At this point, Dick has been trying different tactics to get Grandison to run away on his own accord. He's had him run errands and left him alone countless times, but each time he returns home, Grandison is there, ready to wait on him. When the author says "inadvertently, of course" in this sentence, he does not mean it. To be inadvertent is to be careless, but Dick is very concerned with Grandison and is indeed very attentive to him in his secret mission to "lose" to the North on this vacation.

Two situational ironies I found are when Charity Lomax and Dick have a discussion about his leaving Grandison in Canada, and the obvious one - when Grandison runs away after returning to the Owens' home, along with his family.

First, when Dick tells Charity that he left Grandison in Canada, she is somewhat angry with him for doing such an "outrageous" thing, which I have reason to doubt she really means since in the beginning she thought the man who had been tried for leading off a slave to be a man of some action, unlike the indolent Dick, and even compared them, saying that at least the other man had tried to do something virtuous and courageous. Here, she is reacting in the opposite. Next, she says:
"But I presume I'll have to marry you, if only to take care of you. You are too reckless for anything; and a man who goes chasing all over the North, being entertained by New York and Boston society and having negroes to throw away, needs some one to look after him."
So now she suddenly decides to marry him. I certainly did not see that coming. I thought she would at most find Dick Owens to be of enough action to give him a chance. And the fact that the reason she will marry him is to care for him and his recklessness, the very recklessness he did to sway her to love him, is a reason I would not have thought. I figured if she did give him the time of day after his return, they would be together and if they did eventually marry, it would be because she delighted in his sudden accomplishment and truly loved him for it.

Second, the obvious situational irony of the whole story: Grandison's real escape at the end of the story. Throughout the whole narration, Grandison's character is rendered unambiguous in any way. Time after time, when given the chance to run away, he does not. In fact, he is scared of the abolitionists - of being taken by them. He seems totally faithful and grateful for his master, almost like a son's love for his father. Never does he waiver in conviction. There is not one moment given to suggest he is considering to run away. Furthermore, after Dick leaves him in Canada, he finds his way back home and through terrible conditions to boot. Then, after all this determination, he ends up running away with Betty, his wife, his mother, aunt, father, uncle, two brothers, and sister. It seems this truly faithful servant was not faithful at all. He simply wouldn't run away without his family.