Washington Black Character Analysis

George Washington “Wash” Black

The protagonist of the novel, Wash begins the book as an 11-year-old boy who’s enslaved on Faith Plantation in Barbados. Life on the plantation takes a turn for the worse when Wash’s master, Richard Black… read analysis of George Washington “Wash” Black

Christopher “Titch” Wilde

Titch is Erasmus’s younger brother who becomes a father figure for Wash. Titch is a tall scientist with a long face and a scar cutting up from the sides of his mouth to… read analysis of Christopher “Titch” Wilde

Tanna Goff

Tanna is Mr. Goff’s daughter and Wash’s friend and lover. Wash and Tanna meet in Nova Scotia, where she and her father are conducting research. Wash goes to an inlet every day to… read analysis of Tanna Goff

Big Kit

Big Kit is an older enslaved woman on Faith Plantation and is Wash’s mother, though he doesn’t know this until after her death. She protects Wash as they work in the sugar cane fields… read analysis of Big Kit

Erasmus Wilde

The antagonist of the novel, Erasmus Wilde is the master of Faith Plantation and Titch’s older brother. Erasmus takes over the plantation after his uncle, Richard Black, dies, when Wash is 11 years… read analysis of Erasmus Wilde

Philip

Philip is Titch and Erasmus’s cousin. He is introduced as a very large, morose man, and though he’s never cruel to Wash, Wash is wary of him. One day, when Titch is conducting… read analysis of Philip

Mr. James Wilde (Titch’s Father)

Titch and Erasmus’s father, James Wilde, is a famous scientist who works in the Arctic. Titch works on the Cloud-cutter in order to impress his father, who drew up plans for the Cloud-cutter but… read analysis of Mr. James Wilde (Titch’s Father)

Mr. Goff

Mr. Goff is Tanna’s father and a famous marine zoologist whom Wash meets in Nova Scotia. Goff is old, slightly curmudgeonly British man. Seeing Wash’s romantic interest in Tanna, he treats Wash with some… read analysis of Mr. Goff

John Willard

John Willard is a bounty hunter whom Erasmus Wilde hires after Wash and Titch escape Faith Plantation in the aftermath of Philip’s suicide. Willard is Scottish, short, and blond, and he has a chillingly… read analysis of John Willard

Peter House/Peter Haas

Peter is James Wilde’s loyal assistant in the Arctic. Peter is deaf, and he signs with Wilde and Titch and helps interpret between Wilde and the Esquimau people there. When searching for Titch, Wash… read analysis of Peter House/Peter Haas

William

William an enslaved man on Faith Plantation who commits suicide towards the beginning of the book. Many of the enslaved people on the plantation, including Big Kit, believe that committing suicide would allow them… read analysis of William

Minor Characters

Theo Kinast

Theo Kinast is Benedikt Kinast’s twin brother and the surgeon on board the Ave Maria, the ship that Wash and Titch crash into on the Cloud-cutter and then ride to Virginia. Theo is kinder to Wash than his brother, even though he, too, believes Wash is a runaway.

Benedikt Kinast

Benedikt Kinast is the captain of the Ave Maria, the ship that Wash and Titch crash into and then ride to Virginia. Benedikt is German and a former naval officer; he and his twin brother, Theo, both suspect that Wash is a runaway.

Mrs. Wilde (Titch’s Mother)

Mrs. Wilde is Titch and Erasmus’s mother and Mr. Wilde’s wife. She lives on the Wilde’s estate, Granbourne, in London. Mrs. Wilde is cold and disinterested in her husband’s and son’s scientific exploits.

Émilie

Émilie is an enslaved young woman on Faith Plantation who works in the Great House. Wash has a chaste crush on her as a boy. However, when Émilie becomes pregnant, she is sent away from the plantation and Wash never sees her again.

Medwin Harris

Medwin is the caretaker of Wash’s building in Nova Scotia. Like Wash, Melvin is often attacked in Nova Scotia because he is Black.

Robert Solander

Robert Solander is a staff member at the Abolitionist Society; he gives Wash an envelope that leads him to seek out Titch at Peter Haas’s house in Amsterdam.

Richard Black

Richard Black is Wash’s first master on Faith Plantation. He dies when Wash is 11, leaving Black’s cruel nephew, Erasmus Wilde, to take over the plantation.

Michael Holloway

Michael Holloway is the captain of the Calliope, the ship that Titch and Wash take from Virginia to the Arctic in search of Titch’s father, James Wilde.

Jacob Ibel

Jacob Ibel is the second in command of the Calliope, the ship that Titch and Wash take from Virginia to the Arctic.

Gaius

Gaius is the porter at the Great House. Wash is afraid of Gaius, particularly because he speaks and acts like a white man rather than a Black man.

Esther

Esther is an enslaved woman who works at Titch’s house after Wash is injured.

Immanuel

Immanuel is an enslaved person on Faith Plantation who works in the house.

Maria

Maria is the cook in the Great House.

Edgar Farrow

A friend of Mr. Wilde. He is a sexton, who is involved with the Underground Railroad, and also has a side interest in the science of human decay.