The Passing of Grandison

Signification is a literary device that uses a “signifier” and a “signified” to establish a system of “signs” that create meaning. A signifier is a literal or material thing, item, or code. A signified is the idea or meaning expressed by the signifier. A single signifier might have many signifieds, and signifieds might vary based on culture and background. For instance, the signifier “red” might signify “anger,” “luck,” “stop,” or “communism” depending on the cultural context.

In “The Passing of Grandison,” signification is unstable. What a character sees might not have the signification that they assume. For instance, Dick and Colonel Owens read signifiers such as Grandison’s speech and actions. Colonel Owens claims to have studied enslaved people for many years, which has led to him “understanding them perfectly” (62), while Dick considers himself to be “a keen observer of human nature” (64). They each read Grandison’s actions and assume that they signify that Grandison is ignorant and content being enslaved. At the end of the story, both Owens men and the reader find these assumptions are false, and that they thoroughly misread the signifiers that Grandison offered.

Additionally, the experience of reading the short story demonstrates the instability of signification on the level of the text.