Washington Black

Throughout the novel, issues of race and identity preoccupy Wash. At the beginning of the novel, there is a clear and rigid separation between the identity of the slaves and the identity of the white masters and overseers. While this distinction may be artificial and necessitated by a faulty understanding of the world, one in which black slaves need white caretakers to control and civilize them, it nonetheless has far-reaching effects across the events of the novel.

Even at the plantation, however, there are already complex gradations of education, skin tone, and social rank that indicate a more complicated social system than that of merely black and white. Among the slaves themselves, there are both educated and refined slaves like Gaius or Émilie, as well as rough field slaves like Big Kit and Wash. The house slaves perform softer work, and are often lighter skinned. As Wash realizes when he sees the 11-year-old Émilie pregnant, these lighter skin tones are often the direct result of rape and sexual coercion on the part of white masters and overseers, further complicating what it means to have an identity based on race and ancestry.

Wash’s relationship with Titch gradually evolves from one of slave and master to one of companions. While Wash looks up to and depends on Titch, Titch is unable to see Wash as more than a burden. Throughout Wash’s continued travels, Wash’s race is often a significant part of his identity, resulting in harassment and even occasional violence. When Wash first meets Tanna and Mr. Goff, Mr. Goff disapproves of Wash’s friendship with Tanna due to Wash’s race and history as a slave. As a biracial young woman, Tanna represents a world in which the strict categories of race may no longer apply. Educated and well-off but still cognizant of the unique role race plays in her identity, Tanna is a symbol of racial identity without an ugly history.

Wash also struggles with race and identity in terms of his scientific research and accomplishments. Both Titch and Mr. Goff credit Wash as an illustrator in their respective tracts, an unusual move at a time when it was in some places considered dangerous to even teach slaves to read. Nevertheless, Wash is unable to claim credit for his idea for the aquarium Ocean House, conceding that the only way they will be able to secure funding for the project is to pretend that it is Mr. Goff’s idea. Throughout the novel, Edugyan dwells on the complicated and fraught dimension that race adds to the relationships between characters and their places in society. Edugyan seems to argue that racial prejudice is a twisted and broken way to view the world that does a disservice to all people, both black and white.