Washington Black: Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

Every night, Wash wonders about this choice—what might have happened if he went with those men. The morning after this decision, Titch and Wash return to Norfolk to find a charter heading towards the Arctic. Wash doesn’t speak to Titch during this whole journey; he feels like Titch wants to cast him off even though he knows Titch is trying to protect him. But Titch showed him curiosity, and fostered his intelligence, and Wash wanted a life with the man. In hindsight, he doesn’t wonder if he would make the same choice again, because he knows that the path can never be retaken.

Titch and Wash board the Calliope. The captain, Michael Holloway, was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and has clear prejudice against Wash. But the captain’s second, Jacob Ibel, speaks to Wash like a human being and often plays cards with him. Wash likes Ibel very much, but he doesn’t trust either man. As they were boarding the ship, Wash noticed a short, portly man watching Wash on the railing as the ship set out, but by the time Wash pointed him out to Titch, the man was gone.

Titch and Wash settle back into the routine of ship life, and Wash starts to feel like he’s leaving Willard behind. When they are sailing through Labrador, Titch asks Holloway and Ibel what kind of expedition they’re on, and Ibel explains that they are seeking the wreck of a whaler to find barrels of oil that were left on a nearby island. They aimed to be the first ship out that season to collect it before anyone else.

Wash has never seen ice before, and as the ship sails past ice formations, he is amazed by their beauty and sadness and feels like they are leaving the world of the living. He tries to sketch it as they sail slowly across the channels. Wash bundles up so much that he waddles, and the crew starts to call him a penguin. When Ibel shows Wash a sketch of a penguin, he laughs at the nickname. With every league, he and Titch feel lighter. But the ice also makes them feel more solitary, and Wash keeps thinking of Willard, Philip, of Big Kit and his long years at Faith.

Finally, the ship arrives at the Arctic trading post, and Titch and Wash bid the ship goodbye. Titch asks the trader at the outpost about his father’s camp, and the trader points out a man who can take them. The man is alarmingly ominous, with a large boil on his nose, but Titch thanks the trader and approaches the man. To Wash’s surprise, they greet each other warmly—it is Peter House, his father’s assistant. Wash watches in wonder as Titch and Peter make elegant gestures at each other, and Titch tells Wash with tears in his eyes that his father is alive. When Wash asks if Peter said this, Titch explains that Peter talks with his hands. Soon, they find an Esquimau guide with a sled and dogs, and they all set out toward the camp.