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
Wednesday arrives slowly, and Wash and Tanna decide to go to the hanging. Wash knows he could never accept the death if he didn’t see it himself. They drive to Newgate prison in a carriage and join the 400-person crowd. Wash observes the hideous brick building, in front of which is a large platform with gallows and a fence to block out the crowd. Tanna is uneasy, and Wash thinks that he should not have brought her.
Although the book still does not reveal who is being hanged, Wash continues to imply that it is someone from his past, whose death would provide a meaningful degree of closure on a previous chapter of his life that remained unresolved.
Themes
The newspaper stated there were two to be hanged: a Black man named Louis Hazzard, for theft and arson, and John Francis Willard, for the crime of murdering a Freeman. Wash wonders if Willard killed another man, believing the man to be Wash, or if he just struck out at someone else. Wash notes the irony: Willard’s indictment for killing a Black man, and dying alongside another Black man.
The reveal that Willard is the man being hanged provides context for why Wash felt so compelled to attend the hanging. Wash is attempting to finally put his life on Faith Plantation behind him, and he hopes that Willard’s death will bring him closure and no longer cause him the deep fear that has haunted him since learning of Willard. It is also ironic Willard murdered someone another free person, and will spend his final moments in captivity and fear.
Themes
Wash and Tanna push forward through the crowd, which is angry and tense. Vendors sell snacks; fiddlers tune up to play. At noon, the two men are led out into the yard. Wash sees Willard on the other side of the fence, like it is the dividing line between life and death. He sees Willard’s white, sightless eye. In that moment, Wash is disgusted at his own bloodlust, knowing that true mercy would have been to kill Willard. This would have made Willard a martyr—to die for the cause of catching Wash.
Wash’s observations of Willard’s hanging show how much Willard has haunted him these past years. Even though Willard’s side of the fence represents death in Wash’s mind, Willard has always been a shadow of death lurking in Wash’s life. Wash also understands that Willard has been just as plagued by Wash, and would rather have died finding resolution for his past. Additionally, Wash recognizes Willard’s cruelty even in the act that caused him to lose his life, again dehumanizing Black men by perhaps mixing up Wash with someone anonymous, or by indiscriminately taking out his rage on any Black man whose life he deemed unworthy.
Themes
Willard steps up to the noose. Wash can see the fear in his eyes just before a hangman sets a bag over Willard’s head. A priest steps forward, and the crowd begins to hoot and jeer. Wash holds Tanna so that she won’t see, and the hangman draws on a pulley as the floor swings away. Wash hears the crack of the ropes, and watches as they hang for two minutes to ensure their deaths. The crowd erupts in cheers, and Tanna glances up to stare at the lifeless legs.
Even though Wash believes that killing Willard would have been more merciful, for Willard to die for killing a Black man is important. It recognizes that Black men are equally deserving of life, and those who murder are just as worthy of losing their lives as those who murder white men.
Themes
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Just beyond Tanna’s head, Wash sees a figure in the crowd. He is tall, with a long face and a blue coat. Wash feels himself going cold as the man turns away, and Wash calls out “Titch!” He claws his way towards the man, repeating his name until he turns. And then, Wash realizes, he is another man entirely.
Even moments after Wash finds a degree of peace from John Willard’s death, his mistaking a stranger for Titch illustrates that he still needs to find resolution for his past with Titch. In this way, the book again emphasizes that the past is inescapable because Wash will always be searching for answers as to why he is rootless and unhappy in his present life.
Themes
