Washington Black: Part 3, Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

Wash sits in the restaurant, shocked at having met the man who’d caused him so many sleepless nights, who’d forced him away from all that he knew, who made him carve out a life for himself in a country that doesn’t want him. He wonders if Willard actually saw Titch in Liverpool. And even as Willard assured him he wasn’t after Wash, hatred lay beneath the whole exchange.

Wash breathes for a few moments before leaving with his ledger. He thinks about Willard quoting Aristotle—corrupting science to support his own ideas. Wash passes a dark alley, and he remembers a time when he was four years old, climbing to sit on a fence that he’d sat on many times before. He had a feeling that the fence would break but told himself that fear was stupid. So he climbed up anyway, and the fence broke and he fell, driving splinters into his thigh. Now, as Wash turns away from the dark alley, he feels a blow to his head.

Wash falls to the ground as a second blow lands on his collarbone. White hands grab at him, digging into his cheeks as blood gushes down his face. Wash struggles away, trying to grab at the man’s—Willard’s—throat. Willard hisses a slur at Wash and grabs Wash’s throat in return. Wash can feel his breath choking off when he remembers his knife, and he eases a hand from Willard’s throat, takes the knife from his pocket and drives it as deeply as he can into Willard’s face. Willard screams in horror, and they kneel side by side as Willard screams and Wash catches his breath before he stumbles away.