Washington Black: Part 4, Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

Later, Tanna and Wash lie naked in their room in Haarlem. Kissing Tanna, Wash says he admires her lack of adornment—that she only uses small things to augment her beauty so that her actual features shine through. She says that she often begged Goff to let her wear jewels and makeup and fashionable dresses growing up. And when he finally let her, she looked breathtaking. But she also noticed people staring at her constantly, and she felt that she disappeared as a person. She got a reputation for being stupid or silly. Wash teases her, saying now she is silly and plain.

As Wash lies back, Tanna says that Peter’s story had the opposite effect than the one intended on her—she kept thinking that the poor Tahitians had to deal with being shot at, and the strange Englishmen with their frightening tools. Only half listening, Wash wonders what drew Titch to Morocco, and Tanna points out that Wash has become obsessed with Titch, even mistaking strangers for him. She says she thought Wash’s obsession was about finding Wash’s origins, but they did that at the Abolitionist Society. She asks him why he hunts for Titch. Wash is flooded with anxiety, but he feels a striving that he can’t stop.

Tanna asks if Wash is running away from her and Goff because Wash feels that her father stole his idea. Wash admits that he spent a year working out the science of it, and it won’t bring him anything in the end—his name will be nowhere. She asks if it’s a question of his name, and he admits no. He thinks that the project was a testament to his contributions, but now he’s not sure that his existence has been truly meaningful.

Tanna tells Wash softly of her Uncle Sunshine, who was very morose and delighted in his misery. When her grandmother died, she left him 300 pounds, and he used the money to buy himself a gravestone for the family plot, and he would leave flowers on it and visit it every day. Once, he left Portuguese figs that Tanna and Goff brought back—she wanted him to taste those figs, but they went onto the grave. When he finally died, it was more like a homecoming. After a pause, she says that she will go with Wash to Morocco. Exhausted, Wash falls asleep, reaching out for her fingers.