Washington Black: Part 3, Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

Wash staggers to the Goffs’ house, where Tanna answers the door in her nightgown. She’s stocked to see him covered in blood, his shirt torn. She immediately turns to get her medical bag, and despite his pain, Wash feels a heat flow through him at seeing her. He follows her into the room, noticing the pitiful fire in the hearth. As Tanna dabs at Wash’s face and heats a needle for suturing, she starts to cry. She stitches his torn face, cursing whoever did this to him.

After Tanna finishes the wounds, she notes that Wash thinks her fire is bad. He asks to fix it, but she refuses, instructing him to rest. Still, he gets up to fix the fire and tells her that the timber is still damp. She shrugs, saying she’s hopeless. Wash gets up to leave, knowing Goff is likely due back the next day. Tanna tells him that he’s a gentleman—perhaps too much so. Wash stares at her, wanting to put his hands and mouth on her. Then, Tanna slowly steps forward and unbuttons her gown.

Later, as Wash and Tanna lie on the floor, they watch the rain pound at the windows. Wash is amazed at how natural their bodies felt together, and he kisses her forehead. He asks if Tanna was going to illustrate Goff’s book, and she says no. She hoped her father would ask, which is why she aimed to get better, but Wash is the better choice. He tells her that he will turn her father down, but she refuses. She says it’s important for people like Wash to get the chance to do it, to show his talent.

As Tanna turns away, Wash notes three birthmarks on her lower back, and she says she hates her birthmarks as she kisses him. He asks her what her favorite marine life is, saying his is the nudibranch, which will steal the harpoon off a jellyfish and mount it to its own back. Tanna says she likes the octopus, because it can match its surroundings, stretch and fold itself, and is clever. He kisses her ear, saying that an octopus also has three hearts.

As Wash gathers Tanna closer to him, she says that she always felt she was different, and she knows he feels the same. She meant him no ill will when she said he was a slave, and as she says this, Wash recalls the pain of the last hours and thinks he might cry. He tells her about Faith, Erasmus, Big Kit, Titch, Philip’s suicide, and the trip to the Arctic.

Wash says he feels life with Titch wasn’t real—but he was afraid of returning to the real world when he was with Titch. He is ashamed of how he turned away from Big Kit and everything he knew, and the cruelty that others experienced. Tanna asks then if it was John Willard who attacked him. He says nothing, and she asks if Wash killed the man. Wash says no, knowing that his angle had been awkward and that Willard likely only lost an eye.

Tanna says that Wash has to come with them to London—he’ll be more protected there. Wash points out that Titch argued differently, but Tanna says that Titch only saw Wash as an assistant, and never as his equal. It is unlikely that he saw anything in Wash beyond his immediate usefulness. Wash disagrees internally but says nothing.

Wash notes that Erasmus is dead now, and Willard said that he saw Titch in Liverpool. Tanna states that Willard just wanted to put Wash off guard—and even if it’s true, Wash is his own man, and he doesn’t owe Titch anything. She asks Wash again to come with them to London, saying that if she’s not tempting enough, he should think of the specimens. She kisses his forehead, and he presses his face into her hair.