How we cite our quotes: In consultation with my editor, we decided (against standard practice) to go with page numbers—since The Sunset Limited is one long act and it would be unwieldy and impractical to number all the lines.
Quote #1
WHITE: Do you really think that Jesus is in this room?
BLACK: No. I don't think he's in this room.
WHITE: You don't?
BLACK: I know he's in the room. […] It's the way you put it, Professor. Be like me askin you do you think you got your coat on. You see what I'm sayin? (10-11)
Black feels he's so in touch with the Spirit that he's gone from thinking and believing to something like knowledge. As he implies later, he's come to the "well of belief," and doesn't need to doubt or go any farther.
Quote #2
WHITE: Do you hear him? Like out loud?
BLACK: Not out loud. I dont hear a voice. I dont hear my own, for that matter. But I have heard him.
WHITE: Well why couldn't Jesus just be in your head?
BLACK: He is in my head.
WHITE: Well I don't understand what it is that you're trying to tell me? (13)
Black means that Jesus speaks as a presence living within him. He's like the Quakers who believe in the Inner Light, a.k.a. that God is in each of us.
Quote #3
WHITE: Well, I'm sorry, but to me the whole idea of God is just a load of crap."
The black puts his hand to his chest and leans back.
BLACK: Oh Lord have mercy oh save us Jesus. The professor's done blasphemed all over us. We aint never gonna be saved now.
He closes his eyes and shakes his head, laughing silently.
WHITE: You don't find that an evil thing to say.
BLACK: Oh Mercy. No, Professor. I don't. But you does. (63)
Black doesn't find it an evil thing to say, probably because he finds that it's an expression of genuine human pain and disconnection. He thinks White must find it evil, though, because that's the thrill of saying it—it's fun to say bad things.