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
Titch often spoke of the Loyalists in Nova Scotia, and Wash resolves to go there. Wash arranges passage on a vessel, terrified to be a small Black boy alone at sea. One evening, a sailor ties him to the rigging until Wash agrees to drink a quart of rum. After that, Wash hides in his room, alone, looking through the one book Wash took—Titch’s leather-bound tract on sea creatures.
As Wash returns to Canada, it’s clear that he will face much greater racism and violence than he did back when he had Titch by his side, because people do not respect Wash as a man in his own right.
Themes
Wash travels by boat, cart, and carriage until he arrives in Shelburne, which is wet and dreadful. He works for a time in a small fishery, but he is constantly uneasy about John Willard and other kidnappers who often capture freed men in the streets to ship them South and make them slaves again. Sometimes white men would simply attack the Black men who worked for cheaper wages and destroyed their livelihoods. One night, someone tries to strangle Wash outside a dark tavern, but he is able to shake the man free.
This passage demonstrates that as much as Wash tries to move around, he finds much of his past inescapable. First, he is afraid of Willard and the other men who try to enslave him again. Second, he also has to deal with violent incidents that spring from racism even after having escaped from slavery, as his past enslavement forever marks him as a target.
Themes
Over time, Wash grows bitter and hard (though he is only 15), and he knows he has to move on. He settles in Bedford Basin, finding work as a dishwasher and a laundry boy. These days, sketching makes him feel sad and drained. Instead, he finds work as a prep cook and discovers he has a knack for it. The schedule is demanding, and over time Wash grows desolate, feeling like a boy without identity, always running.
Again, while journeys are usually meant to help people progress in their lives (e.g., having new experiences or visiting new places), Wash instead continues to run from his past. That he continues to be restless no matter where he goes shows how much time and energy he is wasting in trying to avoid his past when it seems inescapable.
Themes
When Wash is 16, he realizes that he has to improve his circumstances or he will die. He finds intermittent work at the docks, trying to live up to the idea of a free man that Big Kit described. But it is difficult when he is once again treated brutally—even his colleagues at the docks beat him and urinate on him. Occasionally, Wash thinks of Titch and is surprised that Titch would kill himself the way he did.
While Wash continues to face racially motivated violence, he realizes that he isn’t free despite escaping slavery. He doesn’t have the freedom of movement that he aspires to, which Big Kit described in the early chapters. His lack of freedom continues to cause him despair, showing how being captive to societal violence can be just as emotionally difficult as physical captivity.
Themes
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During Wash’s lowest days, he is unloading a sailing vessel when he sees jellyfish glowing yellow and green. Wash is amazed to watch the sea pulse with color. Later, Wash takes out his papers and paint and sketches for the first time in months. But he isn’t able to fully capture what he saw in the waters: a burst of fleeting incandescence.
Wash isn’t able to sketch the jellyfish adequately, but the book again associates Wash’s curiosity and spark of interest in the world with his desire to draw. This demonstrates how sketching is an attempt to capture and understand the beauty around him.
Themes
