The Sunset Limited reflects on death, but not in the typical way—the characters aren't afraid of it. Black's faith leads him to believe in a "most excellent world" in the beyond, while White absolutely yearns to die.
The play isn't just concerned with bodies, though, and it also reflects on the mortality of culture and civilization—White wants to die partly because he thinks that the things he used to value, like the great books and cultural artifacts of the Western world, have died, rendered meaningless by human brutality.
To this end, White claims that he desires oblivion, and that real life is just "illusions and lies," in contrast to the reality of nothingness. Obviously, Black doesn't feel the same way—for him, to actually desire nothingness is to be pulled in the opposite direction of the way you should be going, which is back to God.
Questions About Mortality
- What do you think about White's claim that Western Civilization is dying or already dead? Are there more signs of life than that? Be specific, please.
- What does Black think about death? Why does he think suicide is particularly horrible? Give examples from the text.
- White thinks the fact that everything—every love, every joy—disappears and dies is really terrible. Hence, he wants to die. Does this make sense? How does Black counter this in particular?
- Do brutality and genocide actually make cultural things less valuable? How? Why?
Chew on This
The fact that we die makes life more meaningful. Since our lives are temporary, they become more important—we need to figure out what to do with them, give them a purpose.
Death makes life meaningless. Since nothing lasts forever, there's no purpose to anything we do in life.