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
Later, Medwin tells Wash to stay away from white women, but Wash isn’t sure that Tanna is white. Medwin says the whole thing seems fishy—that she’s from the Solomon Islands and is interested in him. He says that this is the kind of thing that gets men killed. Wash recalls his only times being intimate with a woman: one a prostitute, the other a girl he met at the dockyards whose father threatened to crush Wash’s skull when he learned about their relationship. Medwin says that Wash could hang from a tree for what he’s doing.
Medwin’s worry about someone seeing a young Black man with a woman who could pass for white is another illustration of racism. Many people in their society don’t believe that Wash is worthy of Tanna’s affection simply because she has lighter skin, to the point where he could lose his life over it. Again, this illustrates how society dehumanizes and devalues Black men like Wash, even when Tanna is clearly interested in him.
Themes
Medwin then tells Wash that a small, soft-voiced white man came looking for Wash, but Medwin said he didn’t know Wash. Wash thanks Medwin, who doesn’t pry any further. The next morning, Wash wants to see Tanna again and kiss her. But now he’s worried that John Willard is looking for him. He wonders why the man is still searching—Wash can’t still hold any value, particularly now that slavery has ended in West India.
Again, Wash doesn’t fully feel free even when he escapes slavery—and even when slavery has ended in the British colonies. Even after traveling around the world, he still feels haunted by the idea that his past might catch up with him, demonstrating how the past can feel inescapable.
Themes
Rising, Wash begins to pack his tools and walks toward the beach. He scans the horizon for Tanna and for Willard, but no one comes for an hour. He then tucks a knife into his waistcoat and goes to work, still worried about Willard, but his deliveries go smoothly. The next day, when Tanna doesn’t appear again, Wash wonders if he did something to put her off. He also wonders if she is somehow working for Willard, but he decides that that’s a stupid thought.
Again, Wash’s past is so present in his mind that it is also coloring how he interprets other people’s motivations and actions (like believing that Tanna could be working for Willard). His nervousness shows how afraid he still is of Willard and how that fear takes control of his thoughts and actions.
Themes
Days pass, and despite knocks on Wash’s door, he never answers. Towards the week’s end, he runs out of food and fasts for two days before going out to a fruit stand. There, he sees Tanna, focused on the apples. At first he makes his way toward her, but he realizes that he doesn’t know what he’d say, so he turns and flees.
The fact that Wash spends days in his room fasting out of fear that Willard might be outside illustrates how he has become captive to his fear—it becomes treacherous and physically restrictive like his actual enslavement.
Themes
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