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 settles into his new routine: in the mornings, he and Titch examine the flora on the plantation and work through calculations for the Cloud-cutter. In the evening, Titch teaches Wash to read. Wash is amazed at Titch’s mind as Titch examines dirt, climbs trees, and observes new animals.
As Wash learns more about science, he appreciates Titch’s curiosity about the world. In this way, the book illustrates the virtue of curiosity and using science in order to better understand the world.
Themes
Titch never mistreats Wash, but this isn’t a kindness, as Wash knows at some point he will have to return to the cane fields’ brutality. Only once does Titch comment on the slaves’ abuse, when an overseer strikes a girl with a rusted prod. That evening, Wash hears Titch and Erasmus arguing about the incident.
Wash recognizes that it’s not enough for Titch to treat Wash well. Wash can never feel truly comfortable until the entire institution of slavery has been eradicated and he and the other enslaved people can be truly valued. Titch attempts to do this at least on Faith Plantation, arguing against this cruel treatment because he recognizes the enslaved people’s humanity.
Themes
At night, Titch also teaches Wash to write, but Wash starts to draw when Titch isn’t around. Each night, he burns the pages, worried that Titch will learn of his disobedience. But one day, Titch intrudes on Wash’s room just as he is about to burn a page, and Titch asks Wash not to waste the paper. He opens the page to see a butterfly they observed earlier in the day. Titch is astounded, saying he has never seen nature so faithfully rendered; he calls Wash a prodigy. From then on, Wash becomes their chief illustrator. Gradually, Wash also learns to read and understand more of the scientific concepts that Titch references.
Drawing becomes a way for Wash to better capture and understand the scientific world into which he is being initiated. Even though science and art are viewed as opposing disciplines, Titch and Wash view them as connected—both are ways of documenting and exploring nature’s mysteries. Wash’s artistic talent is also key to the book, as he highlights how he—and, by extension, the other enslaved people—has so much untapped potential. But because slavery dehumanizes and confines them, they don’t have the opportunity to fulfill that potential or illustrate their talents.
Themes
One evening, Titch asks about the woman who served with him at the Great House, and Wash says that Big Kit is like a mother to him. Titch says that Wash must miss her, but Wash doesn’t respond. He wonders if he does miss her. He remembers her hand on his face in the darkness, how she always gave him the last scoop of her breakfast and he would eat it from her hand, and how she had seven scars from seven spears. He knows that one day she will no longer stand to be enslaved, and that she will kill many people before escaping with Wash to freedom.
Wash’s memories of Big Kit illustrate how she was the closest thing that Wash had to family, and he knows that she had and always would protect him fiercely. And yet, Wash’s conflict stems from the fact that he has been forced to separate from her, showing how families can be sources of deep love, but also great pain.
Themes
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