Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Washington Black, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom vs. Captivity
Racism, Humanity, and Cruelty
Journeying and the Past
Family, Love, and Pain
Art, Science, and Curiosity
Summary
Analysis
Wash runs back to Titch’s residence and notices a light on in the study. He leaves Titch to his grief, knowing that his father meant everything to him. In the morning, Wash finds Titch still slouched in a chair in his study. Wash wakes him and asks if he can do anything for Titch. Titch laments the loss of such a brilliant mind, and he is upset that his father didn’t get to see his Cloud-cutter. Wash says that his father would have been proud, and Titch wonders if he will have any choice in his own future now.
Titch’s grief acknowledges that part of loving a family member also means experiencing pain and grief at their loss—a recurrent dynamic between family members throughout the book. Meanwhile, as Wash tries to comfort Titch in this time of grief, he shows that his and Titch’s genuine care for each other is growing.
Themes
Wash leaves to prepare breakfast, but Titch stops him, showing him a paper: Preliminary Remarks Regarding the Theory and Practice of Hydrogen-Powered Aerostation in the West Indies. Underneath, Titch has written that the paper is illustrated by George Washington Black, and he says that he’s going to send the paper to the Royal Society. He says that Wash is a man of science.
This is another aspect of how Titch has become a real father figure and mentor for Wash—fostering Wash’s artistic ability and crediting Wash in his scientific papers.
Themes
Titch also notes that he saw Big Kit last night, and Wash grows upset. Wash doesn’t want to tell Titch that he didn’t recognize Big Kit, or his horror at her disfigurement, or the hurt he felt at seeing the other boy. Titch says that the science isn’t his only work: his friend Samuel in London asked Titch to make notes on the plantation’s conditions. Many of his colleagues in the scientific community are interested in abolition, trying to put an end to the cruelty they’ve observed. He says that Wash’s scientific work will also prove useful.
Here, Titch reveals that he is an abolitionist: not only does he recognize that enslaved people deserve basic human decency, but he is also working towards ending slavery as an institution by arguing that people like Wash deserve true equality. Additionally, this passage uncovers some of the guilt that Wash has been feeling, as he knows that just as Big Kit hurt him by caring for a new boy, he has likely hurt her by finding a new parental figure and forgetting about her. Both of them love each other, but they also have great capacity to hurt each other because of their established love.
Themes
Titch acknowledges that slavery is a moral stain against white men—that this will keep them from their heaven. Titch says he will ask Erasmus to release Wash permanently, and Wash is shocked. Titch asks if he’d rather be Erasmus’s property, and Wash replies that he’d rather be Titch’s property. Wash notes that this seems to trouble Titch, but he doesn’t know why.
Even though Titch’s wants to help Wash overcome this idea that he should be someone’s property, his motivations are also based in concern for white men’s morality—not in actually valuing and helping Black men like Wash.
Themes
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A week later, Erasmus arrives at Titch’s house, and they sit together to drink and laugh over their late father’s memory. The next day, they go hunting together along with Philip and Wash, and Titch posits that he and Wash could go to Granbourne instead of Erasmus. Erasmus says that if Wash went to Granbourne, the servants there would be insulted by working alongside him and would eat him alive. Wilde says instead that Titch must stay and keep up Faith, saying that there is no other option.
This conversation illuminates the racism inherent in Wash’s oppression. For much of his life, Wash isn’t valued—but this isn’t just because he’s in a position of servitude. Even if he were in Britain working alongside white people, they would still “eat him alive” because of his race. While white servants no doubt face classism, Wash has the added obstacle of facing racism even from other people who act as servants.
Themes
As the men continue to hunt, Titch says that their mother can keep up Granbourne, but Erasmus points out that she is old and it is her wish for him to return and run the estate. Philip affirms that he promised to bring Erasmus back—at least until other arrangements can be made. Titch doesn’t answer, and Erasmus points out that Titch is just sullen because he didn’t let Wash go. He wonders why Titch likes him so much—asking if Titch is “unnatural” with Wash. Titch tells Erasmus to leave Wash be.
Though Erasmus implies that Titch is sexually abusing Wash, even Erasmus notes how much Titch seems to care for Wash. This illustrates the familial bond that Titch and Wash have built together. However, because Erasmus refuses to let Wash and Titch go to England together, Titch is starting to appreciate the emotional damage of being forced to remain on Faith Plantation in service of his family.
Themes
Philip tells Erasmus to sell Wash to Titch, but Erasmus says that Wash’s illustrations could be of great value—a doctor is coming from Liverpool and he could use Wash to draw diagrams for his experiments. Suddenly Philip fires off a shot, and a bird falls from the sky as the hunting dogs run loose.
Again, Erasmus, Titch, and Philip’s interactions all seem tinged with past grievances, though the book doesn’t yet reveal what they are. Instead, imagery of a bird falling from the sky and dogs hunting the bird punctuates their exchange and hints at their underlying conflict.
Themes
The next day, a storm brews, but Titch and his workers continue. Wash knows that hurricane season is approaching, and Titch won’t be able to continue working. Titch mumbles his disappointment about his father not being able to see the Cloud-cutter, and he tells Wash that someone should travel to the Arctic and put up a marker for his father.
Titch considers embarking on a journey to the Arctic as a way of avoiding his complicated past with his mother, brother, and cousin. It’s also a way of confronting past failures by putting up a gravestone for his father, and a way of avoiding his responsibility. This shows both the distress that his family and its associated responsibility has caused him and why he then feels the need to seek out freedom.
Themes
Some hours later, a cry rings out from the field, and Titch decides that he and Wash should hike down the mountain earlier than usual. At the base of the peak, Esther and a boy are waiting for them, and Esther tells Titch that Erasmus sent over a new boy for Titch. Titch explains that he’s happy with the boy he has, and he will discuss the situation with Erasmus. Esther states that Erasmus ordered Titch to bring the boy back, and knowing that Esther will be beaten if Titch does not comply, Titch says that he and the new boy will return to the Great House together to clear the situation up while Esther and Wash return to Titch’s house.
Here, Erasmus reveals even more of his cruelty. Not only is he trying to split up Titch and Wash, but he is also using Titch’s empathy for Esther and this boy to have to entertain Erasmus’s idea so that they are not beaten or otherwise treated cruelly. This also illustrates Titch’s loyalty to Wash, demonstrating how much he values the familial bonds they have built.
Themes
As Wash and Esther are returning to the house, Philip comes down the path with a gun and dismisses Esther, asking Wash to join him hunting and asking Wash to carry Philip’s things. Wash is nervous and suggests that it may not be the weather to hunt, but Philip ignores him. Noticing that Philip hasn’t brought any hounds, Wash grows increasingly anxious.
This moment suggests the emotional cost of Wash’s captivity. Wash is immediately on edge about what Philip is asking him to do, knowing that something seems off about the request—and yet he has no choice but to comply.
Themes
Less than an hour later, Wash and Philip sit at the base of Corvus Peak. Philip hasn’t taken a single shot, and Wash is terrified. Philip looks out in the distance and says to Wash that maybe life is easier for slaves, as every day is the same for them and they only have to fulfill their master’s expectations. Wash says nothing. After more silence, Philip apologizes for what happened to Wash’s face.
Though Philip’s assessment shows a callous disregard for the racism and violence that enslaved people face on the plantation, Philip also suggests that he feels a degree of captivity as well. He suggests that he is restricted by his melancholy or the expectations he implies that other people place on him—which is also emotionally damaging.
Themes
Then Philip tells a story: he was eating bread on a bench in Vienna near a cemetery when he heard a horse approaching. The horse was diseased, and it didn’t have a driver. A few minutes later, a man appeared and approached Philip. The man said that he just passed Philip’s grave, and Philip thought he was joking, so he followed the man to a cemetery. There, Philip found a grave with an image carved into it that looked exactly like him, and the man died 50 years earlier on the exact day of Philip’s birth. Philip wonders who the real ghost in the tale is.
Philip represents another example of how the past can be inescapable, as he is haunted by this trip to Vienna in which he thinks he sees a ghost. The ghost shows him either his own death or a previous reincarnation, which also makes him feel like a ghost. Additionally, the diseased horse is perhaps a reference to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, hinting at Philip’s imminent death.
Themes
Then, suddenly, Philip stands and shoots himself in the head. Wash cowers, feeling blood on his face, teeth shards on his arm. He is terrified that he is the only person present at Philip’s death. He wipes himself off and runs, taking one glance back at the body, seeing the flesh of Philip’s face peeling away from his skull.
Through Philip’s violent suicide, the book illustrates how Philip’s own past trauma—hinted at through his interactions with Erasmus and Titch—has become so inescapable that Philip didn’t feel like he could live with it.
Themes
Back at Titch’s house, Wash stammers out an explanation for his bloody condition, trying to convince Titch that he did nothing and that Philip killed himself. Titch believes Wash and wonders why Philip took Wash along. Titch asks Wash to bring him to Philip’s body, and though Wash is hesitant, he knows he has to do this. As Wash watches Titch take slow, ghostly steps through the grass, he thinks that Titch reminds him of Philip.
Here, the language connecting Titch and Philip hints at the fact that Titch feels he played some part in why Philip killed himself, and that he, too, is haunted by the past events that might have led to Philip’s fate.
Themes
