Sunset Limited Family Matters Summary

  • White says he wants to leave and will promise not to kill himself, but Black tells him he's not buying it. So White asks if he's a prisoner, but Black says he was a prisoner before he got here.
  • Black asks White about his family, what his father did. White's dad was a government lawyer who died of cancer.
  • When White's mother asked White to come to his father's deathbed, he said he would, but never actually did.
  • Black's surprised by how terrible this is, and jokes about looking for the train schedule. White doesn't find this funny, and Black says he doesn't either; he says he sees wheels grinding away in White but he also sees good, true light in him, too.
  • The conversation turns to Black's life and family. White asks him what he was in prison for, and as it turns out, it was murder. Black's also been married, but doesn't want to talk about it or share jailhouse stories.
  • He had two sons, but they're both dead now, along with most of the people he's known or been close to in his life.
  • Black explains that while he's stopped leading a life of crime and trouble, he's still surrounded by it, trying to help the people who are in it. White asks why, but Black says he's not ready to know that yet.