Washington Black

“A man who has belonged to another learns very early to observe a master’s eyes; what I saw in this man’s terrified me. He owned me, as he owned all those I lived among, not only our lives but also our deaths, and that pleased him too much.” 

Even at the beginning of the novel, as a child, Wash is intimately aware of the nature of his enslavement. He and the other slaves are not free in life or in death, but are instead subject to the whims and punishments of their white owners.

“I had already seen many deaths: I knew the nature of evil. It was white like a duppy, it drifted down out of a carriage one morning and into the heat of a frightened plantation with nothing in its eyes.” 

As a child, Wash has already seen slaves beaten and killed, and he understands that the institution of slavery itself, along with the white slave owners who uphold it, is the true source of evil. To Wash, the new master appears frighteningly detached and out of reach, like a ghost or a devil.

“Death was a door. I think that is what she wished me to understand. She did not fear it. She was of an ancient faith rooted in the high river lands of Africa, and in that faith the dead were reborn, whole, back in their homelands, to walk again free.” 

According to Big Kit’s beliefs, suicide is a valid option to escape the brutality of slavery. Rather than fear death, Big Kit welcomes it as a way to change her circumstances and finally achieve freedom for both Wash and herself.