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 name of the organization is actually the Abolitionist Society for the Betterment and Integration of Former Slaves. On the morning that Wash and Tanna are to visit, the octopus falls sick, laying curled in a ball dejectedly in the corner. Wash begins to feel that everything in his life ends this way—in ashes. As he watches the octopus die, he doesn’t see a miraculous animal, but instead he sees his own slow extinction. Tanna stares at Wash and asks what’s wrong with the octopus. Wash says they’ll get to the bottom of it, but he doesn’t feel very sure.
The octopus’s illness again connects to Wash’s own mental state. Just as the octopus’s health is flagging because of its displacement, Wash feels similarly sick because he does not belong in London as an educated free Black man. Wash, too, is “miraculous,” but his displacement makes him feel that he is dying. This is part of what pushes Wash to want to understand his past and why Titch abandoned him, in the hopes that if he stops seeking out or running from the past, he can find some resolution in his present.
Themes
