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 sits in the restaurant, shocked at having met the man who’d caused him so many sleepless nights, who’d forced him away from all that he knew, who made him carve out a life for himself in a country that doesn’t want him. He wonders if Willard actually saw Titch in Liverpool. And even as Willard assured him he wasn’t after Wash, hatred lay beneath the whole exchange.
Wash breathes for a few moments before leaving with his ledger. He thinks about Willard quoting Aristotle—corrupting science to support his own ideas. Wash passes a dark alley, and he remembers a time when he was four years old, climbing to sit on a fence that he’d sat on many times before. He had a feeling that the fence would break but told himself that fear was stupid. So he climbed up anyway, and the fence broke and he fell, driving splinters into his thigh. Now, as Wash turns away from the dark alley, he feels a blow to his head.
Wash recognizes the cruelty in Willard using Aristotle to justify his racist beliefs, because Wash knows from his own scientific discovery that he is not any less than white people—he just needed the opportunity to learn and foster his curiosity. Additionally, Wash’s memory here implies that his past gives him an instinct for danger—one that proves true when he immediately faces a violent assault.
Themes
Wash falls to the ground as a second blow lands on his collarbone. White hands grab at him, digging into his cheeks as blood gushes down his face. Wash struggles away, trying to grab at the man’s—Willard’s—throat. Willard hisses a slur at Wash and grabs Wash’s throat in return. Wash can feel his breath choking off when he remembers his knife, and he eases a hand from Willard’s throat, takes the knife from his pocket and drives it as deeply as he can into Willard’s face. Willard screams in horror, and they kneel side by side as Willard screams and Wash catches his breath before he stumbles away.
The fact that Willard attacks Wash even though he won’t get a reward shows that Willard is clearly still trying to resolve what he sees as his own past failures. The knife also reminds readers that Wash has fully expected this confrontation for years, which is why he carried the knife with him at all times. This again underscores the idea that Wash was constantly burdened by his fear that Willard would find him.
Themes
