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Dick Owens
The 22-year-old protagonist and heir to a Kentucky plantation. Dick is smart, spoiled, and in love with Charity Lomax. His plan to win Charity’s admiration, and her hand in marriage, is to help a slave escape north to freedom. As a young man assured of wealth and not inclined “to take needless trouble,” Dick assumes that any slave would jump at the chance for freedom. He learns grudgingly that Grandison, the man who travels north with him, has other plans than to slip into Canada alone.
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Grandison
An enslaved man on Colonel Owen’s Kentucky plantation and the story’s antagonist. Grandison patiently plans an escape from slavery for himself and his family. When he first enters the story, he behaves and speaks in a way that convinces Colonel Owens that he’s “abolitionist-proof”—the kind of slave who appreciates how kindly he is treated. Intelligent and persistent, Grandison maintains this appearance so persuasively that his purpose doesn’t reveal itself until the story’s falling action.
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Colonel Owens
A plantation owner, and Dick’s father. Colonel Owens wants to believe that his slaves are loyal and appreciative. The colonel feels he has had to work hard for his wealth, so now he enjoys indulging Dick, his son and heir. He believes fervently that the South’s slaves are fortunate to have the care of their benevolent owners, and he hates the “infernal abolitionists” who work for emancipation. His desire to be thought of as a good “master,” almost a paternal figure, makes him receptive to Grandison’s flattery.
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Charity Lomax
Dick’s beloved and, after he returns from Canada, his wife. Like Dick, Charity belongs to Kentucky’s white, upper-class, leisured society. She clearly likes Dick but claims that she hates to see a smart young man like him be “so utterly lazy and good for nothing.” She disapproves of abolitionists, but her admiration of a man who tried to help a fugitive slave inspires Dick’s plan to win her love.
Tom
A slave on Colonel Owen’s plantation, and Dick’s personal attendant. Tom is about Dick’s age, a bright young man who quickly grasps the chance for freedom that a trip to a northern state would offer, though he says nothing about his hopes. Unfortunately, the colonel doesn’t trust this young man to make the trip.
