The day that Wash and Tanna plan to go to visit the offices of the abolitionist society, the octopus Wash had taken from Canada falls ill, “growing sicker with the days, more lethargic, so that death even seemed a possibility” (310). Wash feels unsettled and unsure of the direction of his life, and the possibility that Titch might still be alive compounds this feeling. Wash has “a sudden urge to reject it, to cast all of this away, as if the great effort it was taking, and the knowledge that it would never in the end be mine, obliterated its worth” (310).

Wash and Tanna visit the abolitionist society and ask about Titch. Tanna has arranged to have papers brought out for them to look at regarding Faith Plantation. As Wash flips through the records, he comes across the advertisement for his capture, along with the record of Big Kit’s death, which he finds “peculiarly agonizing” (315). Wash also reads the details of his birth and discovers that his birth mother is Big Kit. Wash thinks back to the stories Big Kit had told him about her time in Africa, her capture and transport to the Indies, and the terrible treatment she suffered.