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
The following Saturday, Wash returns to the harbor, where Goff and Tanna have moored a small seafaring vessel. Goff thanks Wash for agreeing to help collect specimens, while Tanna avoids his eye. As they set out, Wash wonders about her strange twists of mood. He also notices her hair and neck and feels longing wash through him. At sea, Goff helps Wash into the diving suit and affixes the helmet.
Wash and Tanna have deep affection for each other, but their inability to communicate their feelings also tempers and obscures that affection. This shows that, like love between parents and children, love between romantic partners can be both deeply caring and sometimes painful.
Themes
When Tanna is below decks, Goff notes that Tanna is young. Wash points out that he is younger than she is, and Goff replies, “in years, yes.” Wash realizes then that while Goff respects Wash’s mind and sketches, he sees Wash as a burnt slave and does not want Wash to be with his daughter.
Wash again recognizes Goff’s prejudice, as Wash understands that his past as an enslaved person and his burns make Goff believe that Wash is unsuitable for his daughter, even despite the fact that he recognizes Wash’s intellect and talent for marine zoology.
Themes
When Wash hits the water, he is shocked at the cold, but he sinks lower, observing all the marine life shimmering in the light. He notices something white, only to realize it’s his own eyes, reflected in the helmet’s glass. And then he feels all of his anger and terror—of Goff’s disapproving glare, Big Kit’s skin, Titch in the snow, Philip’s face, Willard’s shadow. He lets it all drop away, and he feels like nothing.
Floating in the water is a transformative experience for Wash because when he is alone, Wash is able to let go of much of the pain of his past. But the fact that he is able to feel like nothing as he floats in the water only contrasts with his life on land. Normally, when Wash travels to different places, he is forced to consider or confront his past. If the ocean is an escape, it’s because it’s difficult for Wash to find that respite anywhere else.
Themes
An approaching poisonous jellyfish rouses Wash from his stupor, and he propels himself along, keeping the helmet upright. He sees a wreck that Goff told him to examine and starts to search for specimens. He notices an ancient-looking female octopus, brilliantly vivid, and the thought of Goff killing her fills him with nausea. He hopes that they can somehow transport her alive. When Wash approaches the octopus, it sends out dark ink and shoots through the water. But when Wash holds his hands out gently, the octopus swims directly into his hands.
The book immediately connects Wash to the octopus when he discovers it, as it mirrors much of his dynamic with Titch. At first, the octopus is afraid of Wash, but when presented with a gentle open hand, the octopus immediately swims toward Wash. This is the same as Wash and Titch’s relationship, as Wash was at first afraid of Titch, but when Titch displayed his gentle nature, Wash warmed to him. And in taking the octopus out of the ocean, Wash displaces the octopus in the same way that Titch essentially took Wash captive as well.
Themes
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The sun is low when Wash surfaces, after collecting the octopus and several other specimens. Wash gasps for air, and Goff helps him into a blanket. When Tanna joins them, he thinks she might have been crying. Wash opens the cage with care, showing them the octopus, which wraps itself around his arms. Goff notes that the octopus likes him, and Wash laughs.
This rare laughter from Wash shows how he is recapturing some of his childhood curiosity and innocence in returning to science. The fact that the octopus wraps itself around his arm also connects them further. Out of the water, the octopus clings to Wash just as he clung to the only thing he knew outside of Barbados—Titch.
Themes
