The Sunset Limited Movie Analysis

Essay #2: Blindness and Meaning in Life Harrison Fisher

Metaphorical blindness is a common theme in writing and film because it’s a part of life that invokes change constantly. If we are blind to something, we can only see it’s existence from the outside, rather than truly understand it and know why it exists. Unfortunately, a lot of the aspects of life that cause blindness in this world will never be possible to fully understand. One question in particular has been debated for centuries; does the world has inherent meaning to it? “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato (from his literary work “The Republic”) and the film “The Sunset Limited” by Tommy Lee Jones (originally a play written by Cormac McCarthy) explore the conflicting sides

of whether the true nature of the world is structured and ordered, or whether it is chaotic and meaningless.

In “The Allegory of the Cave”, Plato describes to his students a group of people that have been imprisoned within a cave for their entire lives. They cannot move, and they are only able to see the cave wall in front of them. Behind them is a fire, and they can only see the shadow of things that pass by. Eventually, one prisoner is freed from the cave. He is able to go experience the outside world for the first time. Initially, he only sees the shadows and reflections of the objects (his eyes are trained to notice them first), but he soon learns to see the objects for what they really are.

In this story, the freed prisoner believes that he sees a new structure to existence. He finds out there is a new meaning to life that he did not see before. One thing Plato describes in detail is the prisoner’s awe of the sun. The prisoner (and presumably Plato) sees the sun as “...the source of the season and the years, and...the steward of all things in the visible place.” Plato’s work describes the world as a place of order and structure.

In the film “The Sunset Limited” both plausible answers to the true nature of life are explored, but in the end it is assumed that the world is inherently meaningless.

The movie takes place just after one of the main characters (referred to as White in the play) attempts to commit suicide by jumping in front of an oncoming train. The other character (known as Black) saves his life by pushing him out of the way, and takes him back to his apartment to see if he can help by talking to him.

The two characters have a dialogue that lasts almost the entire film. Black starts off by trying to explain the Bible and why he believes in it to White. The whole time, White is very skeptical and unjaded by Blacks argument. White only believes what he sees and knows to be true; he doesn’t accept any other purpose in the world. When Black asks him what he believes in, he says “Cultural things, for instance books, music, art, things like that.” He goes on to say “The things I loved are very frail, very fragile. I didn’t know that, I thought they were indestructible; they

weren't.”

During the second half of the film, Black begins to listen more to White about his perspective of life. White explains his distaste for religion that includes the concept of an afterlife. He rhetorically asks white to “Show me a religion that prepares one for nothingness, for death. That's a church I might enter. Your’s prepares one only for more life, for dreams and illusions and lies. Banish the fear of death from men's hearts and they wouldn't live a day.” He also claims that if there was a god, he would not strive for its acceptance, stating “Your god must once have stood at a dawn of infinite possibilities, and this is what he's made of it. You tell me that I want God's love? I don't.” In the end, Black gives up and lets White leave. Black is emotionally distraught, and begins to view his own life differently.

Both of these works of literature represent a different outlook of life.

They also both illustrate a story in which a character is blind to the world but ends up thinking they’ve found an answer. However, in “The Allegory of the Cave” the prisoner finds the world to be a beautiful and meaningful place, while in “The Sunset Limited”, Black begins to see the world as meaningless after he fails to save White.

For a long time in my life, I believed that the world was inherently structured and ordered. However, in recent years I have strongly began to question that. Some people think that this country is ordered well, but saying the entire world is would be an ignorant claim. When we take a step back and look at the current state of the world, there are unending and unnecessary conflicts, deaths, and bloodshed. Even more evidence for a chaotic world can be found throughout the world’s history.

Even though I believe that the world is a chaotic place, I also believe that meaning can be found amidst the disarray. Maybe this world is designed to be confusing and not fully understandable, so that every tension you endure is just a small event in a series of trials that is meant to test your conviction to your

faith.
Though there is no hard evidence to prove that this life has meaning, the complex beauty and design of the natural world and human nature are enough to convince me of a universal purpose.