Character Clues

Character Analysis

Clothing

McCarthy doesn't give us much info about Black's wardrobe (he has a pair of glasses he puts on sometimes), but in the opening stage-directions he describes White's: "running pants and athletic shoes… a T-shirt and the jacket—which matches the pants—hangs on the chair behind him" (3).

This is important for one reason: It's White's "leapin' costume"—the way he's dressing in order to get a running start and jump in front of the Sunset Limited as it rolls through. It fits with our general understanding of the most central fact about him: Dude really wants to die. So much so, that he's even dressed for the occasion.

Family Life

We don't get an overwhelming amount of info about the characters' family situations, but we get bits and pieces. For instance, we know that White didn't go to see his father (a government lawyer) when he was dying (31-34), which might be one of the things he feels extremely guilty about. More importantly, though, it lets us know how isolated and disconnected he is: White doesn't even hold much in the way of love for his family.

Along this line, we also know that White doesn't want to see his mother in the afterlife. He says: "If I had to meet my mother again, and start all of that all over, only this time without the prospect of death to look forward to? Well. That would be the final nightmare, Kafka on wheels" (135). So we can assume his family life hasn't been awesome, which just reinforces our impression of White as isolated and tormented.

Black's family life hasn't been too hot either. He's been married and (probably) divorced—maybe more than once or twice; it's left vague. We know for sure, though, that both of his sons are dead. As he says, "Everbody in my family is dead. I had two boys. They been dead for years. Just about everbody I ever knowed is dead, far as that goes" (37). But he's responded to all this in a way far different from White. His contrasting reaction tells us that his optimism is steadfast and that his investment in his faith runs deep enough to carry him through incredibly hard times.

Food

Black cooks some real "soul food" for White and himself: a dish containing bananas, mangos, molasses, rutabagas, yet somehow "like chile [sic]" (97-100). It's really good, whatever it is, according to White. Black learned how to fix it "right here in the ghettos of New York City," and it has lots of influences—"Different countries. Different People" (100-101). Black jokes that this doesn't include white people, though, which serves as a subtle commentary about who primarily occupies urban ghettoes.

Does this seem like a lot of attention to give one little dish? Consider this: Black's food is a reflection of his community, a medley of cultures and influences, and directly informed by those whom he lives amongst. White, however, is Mr. Isolation himself. In other words, even Black's cooking clues us into the difference in how these two men relate to the world around them.

Location

The play is set in "a tenement building in a black ghetto in New York City" (3). The characters react to it in entirely different ways, though.

White says: "This place. It's a horrible place. Full of horrible people" (40). His reaction mirrors his sentiments about the world: He wants out, and believes firmly that everyone is terrible. Black's reaction, however, is entirely different. He continues to try to aid and care for the junkies who live around him, even though they constantly steal all his stuff (which is why he doesn't own anything) (39). In short, White's reaction is revulsion, whereas Black's reaction is compassion.

Gee, wonder which one of these dudes is happier? Yes, even their relationship to their location clues us into who's in love with misery and who looks on the sunny side.

Occupation

White is a professor, making his money through his mind and not getting along with his coworkers. As he puts it, "I loathe them and they loathe me." Black also has a job, but it's not clear what it is exactly. That said, since ex-cons often don't get hired all that easily, and since Black lives in a pretty bad part of town, we can assume he's not in a high-paying job like White is.

White's job indicates that he's an intellectual—this tallies well with his former love of cultural things, and also reinforces our understanding of him as someone who lives in his head. Conversely, Black's humble mode of life indicates that he's cool with living in apparently bleak circumstances, especially since the voice of God still speaks to him in those circumstances. In this way, we see Black invested in his heart, in his spiritual self instead of his intellectually-distanced self.

Social Status

This is somewhat related to occupation, so be sure to check that out elsewhere in this section. Black's social status wouldn't typically be considered high—he's living in a tenement, owns virtually nothing, and spends his spare time trying to help junkies (39). Plus, he's an ex-con, and was in prison for murder (36). On the flip side, White, as a professor, is in a somewhat higher social status, though he's obviously a lot less happy.

Black—the person from the lower levels of society—sees more point in life, recognizes more beauty and grace, while by contrast, White sees a world of sheer meaninglessness and misery. In this, we are given the suggestion that White's higher level of education is partly what's driven him to despair. As we explore in the "Symbols" section in our discussion of race, again we see an inversion of how things usually go.

Speech and Dialogue

There's an exchange in the middle part of the play that encapsulates the two characters' different styles of speech. After Black asks White why the Bible spends more time talking about the wrong way than the right way, White says, "I think the answer to your question is that the dialectic of the homily always presupposes a ground of evil." To which Black responds: "That's strong as a mare's breath, Professor. Wouldn't I love to lay some of that s*** on the brothers? Whoa" (69).

White doesn't normally use that much intellectual jargon, but he's going whole-hog at this point—it helps build up his cred as a despairing intellectual. Black, on the other hand, has plenty of Southern turns of phrase and expressions in his way of talking (for instance, that bit about a "mare's breath") and uses countryside terms like "honey" to refer to White. He speaks poetically, but in an unpretentious, colloquial fashion. For both men, their speech reminds us of their social status and general outlook on life.

Thoughts and Opinions

This is probably McCarthy's main mode of characterization (along with speech and dialogue), but let's start with an example, shall we? Here goes:

BLACK: I see a different truth. Settin right across the table from me. […] That you must love your brother or die.

[…]

WHITE: […] The shadow of the axe hangs over every joy. Every road ends in death. […] You tell me that my brother is my salvation? My salvation? Well then damn him. Damn him in every shape and form and guise. Do I see myself in him? Yes. I do. And what I see sickens me. (121,138)

The two characters see things in totally opposite ways. They particularly differ on religion and philosophy, which is mainly what they talk about. Their attitudes toward humanity as a whole are markedly distinct, as well. Black believes you have to love other people, even if they're not very cuddly, but White says that humanity isn't worth preserving, loving, or wasting time on. Essentially, the entirety of the play is a way of bringing out these contrasts until they finally can't keep crashing into each other anymore.