Previous
Part 4, Chapter 15
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
Titch leads Wash to the front courtyard. There on the ground, Wash sees a two-man boat with white masts and wings—another Cloud-cutter. Titch says he still wants to cross the Atlantic. Wash thinks that Titch is reenacting his past as a form of comfort, forgetting all that was bad about it. And Wash knows, too, that Titch is setting himself up for another failure. But as Wash peers at the masts, he remembers Barbados, and a bright pain comes into his head.
The fact that Titch is still working on the Cloud-cutter demonstrates two ideas: first, while the Cloud-cutter once was a symbol of freedom, now it is an anchor tying Titch to his past. Even though Wash knows that Titch will fail, Titch is compelled to try to rectify his past failures—showing how Titch, like Wash, has been unable to escape his past trauma.
Themes
