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
The burly man with the axe is the ship’s captain, a German man named Benedikt Kinast. He is at least 60, with extravagant wrinkles and red hands. He drags Wash and Titch down into the hold, yelling at them for damaging the ship. He asks who they are and why they were out in the storm. Titch gets equally angry, suggesting the man owes him for a new Cloud-cutter, pointing out that the ship had no lights on. Titch wonders if this is a smuggling vessel.
For Titch, losing the Cloud-cutter is devastating, because not only did it represent freedom, but it also represented Titch’s desire to outdo his father and rectify the failure to make his father proud. Now, he has lost all that progress and will continue to try to recover that loss, suggesting that the Cloud-cutter is still tethering Titch to the past.
Themes
The men glare at each other, and Benedikt asks their names. When Titch hesitates, Benedikt suspects that they’re fugitives. Titch introduces himself, and says that Wash is his property. He explains Wash is an excellent scientific illustrator and that the crew should treat him with respect. Benedikt scoffs and says Titch still owes him a ship’s worth of repairs.
This exchange highlights how even though Wash has technically escaped slavery by escaping the plantation, he still isn’t really free. Because they have run away, Wash still has to keep up the ruse that he is enslaved to avoid causing suspicion, and Titch clearly worries about what might happen if they are found out. This suggests that captivity isn’t limited to physical restriction, and that Wash is still bound by inescapable tethers.
Themes
Wash’s scalp is bleeding, and Benedikt gives them directions to the surgeon’s cabin before leaving the room. Titch leads Wash on, exhausted. The surgeon opens his cabin, and Wash is surprised to find Benedikt there, his hair drawn, his coat changed. But when Wash sees the man is missing a few fingers, he realizes that the man is Benedikt’s twin, who introduces himself as Theo.
Theo’s missing fingers are another example of the recurring scars throughout the book; they hint at the fact that the past has also made an indelible mark on Theo and Benedikt, and their past is part of what is spurring their journeys, just as Wash and Titch’s pasts are spurring their journeys.
Themes
Theo starts to bandage up Wash’s cut, joking that Titch and Wash gave the sailors a scare, dropping out of the sky like gods. Theo asks what they were flying away from—his brother thinks the boy is a fugitive. Titch explains that he is Wash’s master, and that he was testing his Cloud-cutter. Theo questions him about their plantation, and Titch lies that they are from Saint Lucia. Despite Theo’s menacing look, Wash sees kindness in his eyes.
Theo’s exchange with Titch again emphasizes that even though Titch and Wash are trying to make their journey in order to avoid their past on the plantation, they aren’t fully able to escape that past because they continue to arouse people’s suspicions.
Themes
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In the morning, the waters are calm. The night before, Titch fell asleep immediately, but Wash didn’t sleep at all. Wash thinks about Titch’s lie that Wash is his property—this rattled him, knowing that in another life, it could be true. When Titch wakes and sits up, he smiles at Wash, relieved that they made it out of the plantation. Wash can’t help but be uneasy knowing he is partially responsible for why they had to leave, even though he knows it’s not his fault.
Wash’s uneasiness with Titch’s lie exposes the fact that even though Wash is now free, in another respect, Wash isn’t free at all. Though he is no longer enslaved, he is still dependent on Titch to remain free and essentially acts as though he is still enslaved to Wash. And the fact that he is so distressed by this fact illustrates that this kind of intangible captivity can be just as emotionally difficult as physical captivity.
Themes
Later, at breakfast, Theo explains that Titch and Wash can accompany them to Haiti, unless they want to go all the way to Virginia with the ship. Titch asks if they sail the triangular trade, and Theo explains that they trade rum, molasses, and sugar for hemp and tobacco—he doesn’t know much about it though, as he just sails with the ship. Titch says that he has a friend in Virginia and asks if they can accompany the ship all the way there. Theo is suspicious, and when he asks what their original destination was in the Cloud-cutter, Wash blurts out a question, asking what happened to the man’s fingers. Theo explains that they were removed by a knife during the wars.
Again, even though Wash and Titch were trying to avoid their past in embarking on their journey in the Cloud-cutter, their past continues to surface. The reference to the triangular trade (where goods and enslaved people were traded in a triangle from the West Indies, Africa, and the United States or Britain) shows that the economic system that fuels racist and cruel treatment of slaves is codified throughout the world, not just on the plantations.
Themes
The rest of the day, Wash and Titch peruse the ship (called the Ave Maria), and the next day, Wash goes up to the deck and watches the sailors at work—coiling ropes, fixing the rigging from the accident, washing the deck. Days stretch into weeks, and Wash sketches the open water. He thinks about how Faith is only miles away, and he wonders how it’s possible for such cruelty to exist while so many men move freely. And he is amazed, once more, that Titch risked so much for him—as though he is worth saving.
Here, again art becomes a way for Wash to explore his curiosity: he wants to more fully understand and capture what is happening on the ship. Additionally, Wash recognizes the true injustice in slavery, to a greater degree here, particularly because so many people (like the crew on the Ave Maria) benefit from it without caring about enslaved people’s oppression and abuse.
Themes
One day, Titch approaches Wash and discusses their plans in America, explaining that they will likely catch a ship for Baltimore. He impresses on Wash that they can’t let anyone find out which plantation they came from. Wash asks where they’ll go after Baltimore, but Titch doesn’t say and suggests they go get some breakfast.
Wash relies on Titch to know where they are going, but he doesn’t really have agency in what they do. Meanwhile, Titch is now bound to protect this person he took from the plantation, but he hints that he may not have fully reckoned with taking care of Wash afterwards. This suggests that both men are bound by a burdensome tether and in some ways are captive to each other.
Themes
Though Benedikt never speaks to Wash, Theo explains some of their family history—they were German but their father fought against the French with England in 1756. He and their mother were stationed in Kent, and the twins grew up there. Both their parents died of cholera at the end of the war, and after a week of them wandering the streets for food, the doctor who treated their parents took the boys in.
This is another example of how racism pervades society even among people who come from relatively destitute backgrounds. Theo and Benedikt are orphans and grew up in difficult circumstances like Wash, which means they should be able to empathize with him. But Benedikt’s racism means he doesn’t recognize Wash’s humanity and thus refuses to speak to him.
Themes
The English doctor and his wife raised the boys as their own. Benedikt joined the Navy and served five years, while Theo studied medicine in Edinburgh and London—particularly the foot. But he grew tired of dealing with plantar warts and toenails, and one day when he cut into a man’s foot one day he smelled the putridness and couldn’t continue. And then, he says dreamily, he met a woman, but Wash doesn’t fully understand what he means.
Theo’s description of his time as a foot doctor illustrates another side of science. Here, Theo portrays science as much less interesting when it is not fueled by curiosity—suggesting that it is the desire to understand the world that draws people to science in the first place, and holds people’s continued interest in it.
Themes
Wash sees less of Titch as the days pass, as Titch grows closer to Benedikt. Wash thinks he is likely trying to become friendly with him to avoid suspicion. To busy himself, Wash wanders the decks and observes the crew, who all seem to know what is needed and where, working together like a machine. On the 68th day at sea, Titch says that they will soon make land in Chesapeake Bay—but they will find themselves subject to the laws of American freedom. He tells Wash that freedom means different things to different people, as if Wash does not know the truth of this.
Titch’s discussion brings up two important points—first, that there are different kinds of freedom, and along with it, different kinds of confinement. The book has already illustrated two kinds of captivity: Wash’s physical captivity when he was enslaved, and Titch and others’ restrictions because of family duty. But Titch seems to not understand that Wash knows this, which the book suggests is an extension of racism—he condescends to Wash and isn’t able to understand or value Wash’s perspective.
Themes
The night before they strike land, Wash stands on the upper deck when suddenly Benedikt appears behind Wash, smoking. Benedikt asks if Wash noticed that all of his crew members are about the same age, explaining that they were all orphaned boys whom Benedikt took on when their orphanage was shut down. Once, Benedikt nearly drowned, and five of the boys leaped into the waves to rescue him. Now, the orphans are the only ones who have remained.
Benedikt’s story highlights the importance of found family and the love that builds from those relationships—the kind of love that plays a big part in Wash’s life as well. Here, Benedikt shows that forming bonds with the young orphan boys created deep love between them for which they were willing to risk their lives.
Themes
Benedikt tells Wash that he knows he’s a runaway slave, and that Titch is a thief. He says that they must have come from Barbados. Wash remains still and silent. Benedikt asks if the boy is human, reaching out to touch his burned face and drawing his hand back immediately. Wash is stunned, thinking that Benedikt’s touch was gentle—and somehow filled with sadness.
This is Wash’s first real acknowledgment that his past will forever change how people look at him. Benedikt can’t fully comprehend an educated Black boy who was formerly enslaved, which perhaps provides an explanation for why he questions whether Wash is human. The fact that Benedikt reaches out to touch Wash’s scars only underscores this point, as though Benedikt is trying to determine that Wash is real. But in touching the scar, Benedikt calls attention to the fact that Wash’s past has internally and externally marked him as an outsider in a way he’ll never be able to escape.
Themes
