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Part 3, Chapter 1
Themes
and Colors
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.
Active
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.
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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.
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.
Active
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.
Active
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