Washington Black

Tanna sleeps in the cot, Wash in the living room, and Titch and the boy in a tent outside. Wash dreams of Ocean House, and then of Big Kit, and then wakes. Disoriented, Wash wanders into Tanna’s room and accidentally wakes her. They talk together, and Wash expresses a worry that Tanna thinks he might lead her on an endless journey with no roots or firm place to call home, or if “this trip would finally satisfy my erratic pursuit of an unanswerable truth” (368).

Wash leaves the house through the bedroom, then sees another doorway leading to a lit room full of scientific instruments and pictures of the moon. Titch appears in the room beside him. While Wash questions Titch about his disappearance in the Arctic, Titch refuses to give him a straight answer. Wash accuses Titch of never truly knowing him, and reflects upon the strangeness of their relationship, in which they could “come to no final understanding of one another” (374). Titch wants to show him something, and leads him out into the courtyard.

Titch shows him a bulky shape in the courtyard, which turns out to be a boat with wings that appears to be a new iteration of the Cloud-cutter. Titch claims that he plans to cross the Atlantic in the contraption. While Wash doesn’t think that Titch is insane, he realizes his delusion and attempt to relive memories of the past, “re-enacting his past as a form of comfort, conveniently forgetting all that had been bad and wrong about it” (373). Wash also realizes that a similar failure dooms this new project, and that Titch will have to “give it up or die trying” (374).

Inside the house, Wash and Titch drink mint tea, quietly talking. Titch tells Wash that Edgar is recently deceased. Wash tells Titch about Ocean House, that Willard has died, and that Peter and Robert are concerned about Titch.

Titch finds this funny and explains that he had already shipped his suitcase and was wearing old clothes from Granbourne when he visited Robert. Titch talks about Philip, explaining that Titch and Erasmus brutally bullied Philip as a child, and Titch expresses regret. The realization that “his guilt has nothing to do with me” strikes Wash (383).

Wash thinks of his life as a slave before Titch’s involvement, realizing that the horror of slavery prevents people from realizing “the revelation of everything our bodies and minds could accomplish” (382). Wash touches Titch’s shoulder briefly in a small, gentle gesture. Titch goes and lies down, and Wash stands in the doorway watching a storm roll in, reflecting upon his life.