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
Some days later, Wash has to deliver an order for a Mr. Goff, and he realizes in despair that Tanna must have a husband. When he reaches the house, though, an old, pale man answers the door and invites Wash to set the parcels down on a desk, which the man clears by shoving a stack of books to the floor.
Wash’s severe disappointment at the idea that Tanna might have a husband illustrates both his deep love for her, and how that deep love also means her betrayals can severely hurt him.
Themes
Wash sets the parcels down and picks up the books, noticing that one of them is an old marine zoology book he read with Titch. Wash says he loves this book, and asks if the man is familiar with the author’s other work—before realizing that the man is the author, famous marine zoologist G.M. Goff. Goff asks what area of science Wash is interested in, and he shyly says marine life. Goff explains that he and his daughter Tanna have been looking for company while they research, and they are taking a boat the next afternoon to record observations. Goff invites Wash, and Wash agrees to go.
Goff quickly becomes another spark for Wash’s lost curiosity about science and the world, as Wash hasn’t had the chance to pursue scientific discovery without Titch. The fact that Wash read Goff’s book with Titch also links Goff and Titch, hinting at the fact that Goff will become a new sort of mentor and father figure for Wash.
Themes
The next day, Wash joins Tanna and Goff at the cove, and when Tanna sees him, she stares at him angrily. Noting Wash’s paints, Goff says that Tanna has been coming down early mornings on her own to paint—but when he insisted on coming with her, she said she wanted to stay home rather than have her freedom compromised. Wash looks at Tanna, but she doesn’t return his glance.
Goff’s story provides an explanation for Tanna’s absence at the cove the past few days, but it also illuminates more about her character. Like Wash and other characters, Tanna also experiences difficulty with a lack of freedom—as a woman, she, too, feels restricted by what society and her father will allow her to do.
Themes
On the boat, Wash makes sketches of the fish they pass, which Goff admires. Later, while they eat lunch, Goff asks if Wash has children, and he says no. Goff says that children are a blessing: his daughter was born on a journey to the Solomon Islands 20 years earlier, and she takes after her mother. She is a true partner in his studies and has been his salvation. Tanna listens to this without any reaction.
Goff and Tanna’s relationship represents another peek into the theme of complicated family dynamics. Goff clearly loves Tanna as his daughter, but her silence, general anger, and frustration at the limitations he places on her show that he can also cause her deep pain and that their relationship carries a lot of weight under its surface.
Themes
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Goff and Wash continue to talk: Goff tells Wash how death is a different thing to different cultures. When he told people on the Solomon Islands that his youngest sister killed herself, they laughed. To them, life is sacred, and so to end life strikes them as absurd. It was then Goff realized that English values are not the only, nor the best, way of living. Wash notes then how much he likes Goff.
This story makes Wash like Goff better because it is counter to so many of Titch’s, Erasmus’s, and Mr. Wilde’s racist attitudes about non-white people. Unlike them, Goff recognizes that his English attitudes and perspectives are no more valid than the beliefs of others.
Themes
As Goff examines a crab, Wash asks what Goff is working on now, and he says exploring the age of the earth. He is curious if there is evidence to dispute creationist theory. When Wash asks what evidence Goff is gathering, Goff tosses the crab to Tanna, who says that Goff is collecting New World specimens for an exhibit as she gently deposits the crab back into the sea.
Goff’s exploration of creationist theory (the belief that the Earth began with an act of divine creation, often including the belief that the Earth is only as old as what the Bible dictates) shows that he, too, uses scientific discovery to try to understand life’s greatest mysteries.
Themes
Wash spends the following Saturday with the Goffs, and Tanna softens a little. Wash can see that she is brilliant, stifled, and devoted to Goff. She and her father are both intelligent and kind, but they are short with each other. He likes them both, but he hates the way they interact—though he notes that this hatred might stem from his own jealousy that she has a father and he does not.
Wash continues to note the complicated dynamic between Goff and Tanna— they clearly love each other, but also don’t treat each other very kindly. Because Wash has never had a strong sense of family, he has a difficult time understanding their interactions (just as he had a difficult time understanding how Titch could be so dismissive of his own mother). And yet, Wash also had his own complex dynamics with Titch and Big Kit as well, all of which show how families (biological or chosen) can involve both deep love and deep pain.
Themes
Wash also senses Goff’s disapproval whenever he catches Wash staring at Tanna. Wash knows that Goff isn’t openly prejudiced—he’s just protective of Tanna and wants better for his daughter. But Wash can’t curb his desire for her, even as he knows that he can’t be with her. He’s plagued by erotic dreams about her, and he always wakes up aroused and ashamed.
Although Wash acknowledges that Goff isn’t openly prejudiced or cruel, the fact that he doesn’t like Wash or believe Wash is good enough for Tanna shows an inherent racial prejudice, believing that Wash isn’t as worthy of her as a white man might be.
Themes
