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Part 1, Chapter 3
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
Wash meets Titch for the first time the night of William’s desecration, when Immanuel and Émilie (slaves who work in the Great House) summon Big Kit and Wash to wait at the master’s table. Wash is shocked: he has never been in the Great House before. Once, he crawled into the laundry room to peer into the chute at the sky above. But the height of the laundry chute is nothing compared to what Wash sees upon entering the house: the high ceilings, the elegant furniture, and the carved doors.
The description of Wash’s reactions to the house illustrates his innate curiosity. The small episode in the laundry room not only underscores that same sense of wonder, but it also hints at Wash’s own eventual journey into the sky. The fact that, as an enslaved person, Wash is often unable to explore the things that make him curious, is another emotionally difficult aspect of his captivity.
Themes
As Wash and Big Kit walk through the front hall, the porter, Gaius, greets them. Gaius speaks and acts like a white man, and Wash fears him. Giving Wash and Big Kit a handkerchief to clean their feet, Gaius instructs them to wait in the kitchen until they’re called. Wash stares in amazement at the lace, the candlesticks, the wood floor, and the animal heads on the walls. He wants to remember everything, though he notes that Big Kit seems very afraid.
Because Gaius speaks and acts like a white man, he gains a higher position in the Great House as the porter. This illustrates how the white masters have created a racist reward system whereby people who act more like them are treated as worthier while continuing to dehumanize those who do not—particularly those who are enslaved in the fields, like Big Kit and Wash.
Themes
In the kitchen, Wash immediately notices pastries near the door and feels desire for the first time. Maria, the cook, assures him that he can eat what’s left over and lick the plates. As dinner starts, Big Kit and Wash carry heaping plates of bread and vegetables into the room—Gaius warned them to be prompt, attentive, and silent. Big Kit grows nervous, as Wash can tell she is worried that they are going to be punished for their plan to kill themselves.
The fact that Wash feels desire for the first time at 11 years old underscores just how dehumanizing his treatment has been up until this point, where nothing in his life has been worth desiring. This contrasts with the white characters, who eat these heaping plates of bread and vegetables and pastries all the time.
Themes
This is the closest Wash has ever been to Erasmus, but he takes more notice of the other man at the table: his hair at his shoulders, his long face, his thin fingers. The man gives a slight smile when Wash pours water into his glass. The man is discussing how people have been able to reach 20,000 feet with nothing but hydrogen and canvas, and that seeing the world from such great heights is magnificent. Erasmus notes that the man hasn’t made that journey himself, and the man concedes, saying he plans to undertake some test flights before crossing the Atlantic.
The man’s introduction immediately highlights his two key characteristics: first, unlike his brother, he is not unnecessarily cruel or dehumanizing. Here, he gives Wash a smile as he pours water to acknowledge that Wash is a human being deserving of respect. In addition, the man introduces scientific exploration and discovery in the novel; he emphasizes here how science can be used to broaden people’s understanding of the world.
Themes
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While eating, the man notes that the potatoes at the dinner are strange—not like the ones they have in England. Erasmus grows frustrated, annoyed that the man is as judgmental as their father. Wash is surprised to hear that the second man is related to Erasmus. The two men continue to discuss the contraption, and when the brother says that he needs a second man to ride up with him for the weight, Erasmus suggests he take a slave boy, gesturing to Wash. The man asks to have this conversation not in front of the help, but Erasmus assures the brother that the slaves are like furniture.
This exchange continues to distinguish Erasmus’ and his brother’s attitudes towards the enslaved people. Erasmus views them as furniture, assuring his brother that they are subhuman. That Erasmus suggests his brother use Wash as an extra weight only reinforces his belief that enslaved people are expendable objects rather than human beings. While Erasmus’s brother seems to see the enslaved people as human beings, his statement that they are like the “help” suggests that he nevertheless considers the enslaved people as lesser than himself.
Themes
Just then, Erasmus unknowingly spills wine, and Big Kit shuffles forward to dab at the stain. Erasmus explains that his brother is too soft with the slaves. He says that vigilance is key, speaking about how the best-respected planter can walk out amongst the slaves and just the sight of him will make them defecate. Erasmus asks Wash if Christopher’s sight would make him soil himself, and Wash croaks out an assent.
Erasmus’s belief that the enslaved people are inherently subhuman then informs his cruel treatment of them—like tormenting them so much that they can’t help but soil themselves in terror. He sees them as something to subjugate and threaten so that they do not exercise their free will (just as he threatened the enslaved people so that they would not kill themselves).
Themes
Uncomfortable, Christopher tries to change the subject, but Erasmus says he has to do what family duty demands even though he didn’t want to spend his life looking after the plantation. Christopher reminds Erasmus that the duty fell to him because he is the oldest. Erasmus then changes the subject, asking what purpose Christopher’s contraption serves before noticing that Big Kit is still dabbing at the stain. He tells her to stop, but she dabs a few more times, and so he strikes her in the face with his plate, shattering it.
Here, Christopher and Erasmus introduce another type of captivity into the novel. Although this isn’t comparable to the enslaved people’s physical captivity, Erasmus also feels captive to family duty, suggesting that being captive to responsibility can still feel emotionally restrictive. Additionally, Erasmus’s easy ability to smash a plate into Big Kit’s face when she was cleaning up after his mess again highlights his cruelty and total lack of empathy for the enslaved people who are forced to serve him.
Themes
Erasmus cut his finger on the broken plate, so he storms off in search of Maria. Christopher hesitates, but he then goes over to Big Kit and dabs at the blood on her face. Glancing at Wash, Christopher asks what Wash’s name is, but Wash simply begins cleaning up the broken plate. Returning, Erasmus tells Christopher to leave Big Kit and have dessert.
Christopher again extends humanity where his brother does not. He acknowledges that the enslaved people in the room are real people who have names and feel pain, while his brother thinks that the enslaved people are not worth Christopher staining his napkin. Thus, the two brothers’ different attitudes shows how Erasmus’s cruelty is based on the idea that the enslaved people are subhuman, while Christopher’s kindness is based in greater acknowledgment that the enslaved people are human.
Themes
Big Kit and Wash mop up Big Kit’s blood as Erasmus and Christopher eat dessert. Wash can tell Big Kit’s nose is broken. After dinner, Gaius allows them to pick through the half-eaten food, but Wash has lost his appetite. Big Kit eats furiously, and as they walk back to the huts later, she tells him that he should have eaten what he was promised. Wash says that Erasmus shouldn’t have hit her, but she assures him it’s just a bit of blood—she was worried he would burn them alive for getting to Dahomey. Thinking about William’s mutilation and the extravagant house, Wash is struck by the injustice of their lives—though he lacks the language to define it.
Wash’s thoughts here illustrate his dawning recognition that the enslaved people should not be treated as lesser simply because of their race. And yet, the fact that he doesn’t really have the language to define what is happening to them represents another cruelty in their captivity. Ignorance and lack of education can be just as restrictive and emotionally damaging as physical captivity, because Wash doesn’t have the means to fully understand his situation or work to change it.
Themes
Wash asks if this means he and Big Kit won’t be going to Dahomey together, and she angrily tells him to put the idea out of his mind. Just then, Gaius catches up to them on the path, saying that Christopher has asked for Wash to visit his quarters. Big Kit tries to get Gaius to tell Christopher that he couldn’t find Wash, but Gaius refuses to do this. Big Kit asks what the man wants, and Gaius says he wants Wash to do what he says and not ask why. Gaius assures Big Kit that this is an opportunity for Wash, and he leaves.
Wash, Big Kit, and Gaius’s exchange reinforces how difficult their physical captivity is. They have no escape—even when they wish to die in order to escape it. In addition, they don’t have strong allies in each other, as their fear of punishment for disobeying Erasmus and Titch outweighs any chance for the enslaved people to give each other a little more liberty.
Themes
Big Kit and Wash walk back to the huts, and he splashes his face with water. Big Kit gives Wash a thick iron nail and tells him that if Christopher tries to touch him, he should put the nail through the man’s eye. As Wash heads back to the house, he carries the nail like a key to a different future, even though the thought of harming Christopher terrifies him.
The nail represents Wash and Big Kit’s resistance, as she means for him to use it to fight Titch. Interestingly, Wash describes it in a similar way as he described death earlier. Just as death is a door, the nail opens up a door to another future and perhaps even to freedom. This connection illustrates that Wash knows his resistance could be dangerous—it could bring him death.
Themes
Christopher is staying at an old overseer’s house on the estate. When Wash arrives, Christopher asks him to come in. Wash observes the house, which is strewn with strange wooden instruments, lenses, vials of seeds, jars of dirt, and papers. Christopher immediately notices that Wash is carrying the nail, and he asks Wash to set it down. Wash does so, knowing he could be killed simply for having it. He wants desperately to run.
The fact that Christopher immediately notices the nail illustrates that Wash’s resistance is futile. On the other hand, Wash knowing that he could be killed simply for having it shows that Wash is helplessly captive Wash—even the hint of resistance could immediately result in his death or torture.
Themes
Christopher beckons Wash to his reflector scope and asks Wash to observe the harvest moon. As Wash looks through the glass, he feels vulnerable and exposed. Christopher asks if he can see it, but Wash doesn’t know what he means, and so he simply says yes. Christopher looks through the glass, realizes with a laugh that Wash hasn’t seen anything, and adjusts the reflector scope to focus on the moon. Wash looks again, and he is amazed to see the huge orange moon, covered with craters—he thinks it is like Earth before the Lord filled it up. Wash breathes a sigh of amazement, and Christopher laughs.
It is in this moment that Christopher sparks Wash’s curiosity for the first time. Christopher shows Wash that science can be used to understand the world better—even demystifying things that people see every day and think that they understand, like the moon. And once again, Christopher also extends kindness to Wash where Erasmus does not, trying to share his joy in scientific discovery and treating him like a person worthy of education and discovery.
Themes
Christopher asks for Wash’s name, and Wash gives it. In return, Wash can call Christopher “Titch”—what his closest friends call him. Christopher explains that Wash is going to live with Christopher as his manservant and assist with his scientific endeavors. Wash is baffled, but Christopher explains that Wash is the perfect size and weight for his Cloud-cutter. Christopher examines the iron nail and wonders if he could use the nail in his contraption. He smiles at Wash without malice, which confuses Wash. Giving Wash the nail back, Christopher notes that there is a bed in the far room and tells Wash to sleep well.
Wash again highlights how dehumanizing his treatment has been in his life, in that he perhaps has never had anyone (and certainly not a white man) smile at him earnestly, like someone worthy of kindness. However, even though Titch treats Wash better than his brother does, he still implies that Wash’s only utility (at least in this moment) is as an object—that is, he’s the perfect size and weight for the Cloud-cutter. Even though Titch isn’t openly cruel, he still thinks of Wash as lesser than himself, and white people more broadly. Lastly, Titch giving Wash the nail back is a symbolic gesture indicating that Wash doesn’t need to resist Titch at all, because Titch treats him kindly.
Themes
