‘The Sunset Limited’: Cormac McCarthy’s existentialist play of faith
When we think of Cormac McCarthy, we inevitably think of some of the greatest works of literature ever produced. Among them are McCarthy’s strikingly violent masterpiece Blood Meridian, his semi-autobiographical novel Suttree, and some of his more underappreciated texts like Child of God and his final works, The Passenger and Stella Maris.
While the American novel was greatly advanced during McCarthy’s brilliant life as a writer, McCarthy occasionally dipped his creative toes into other mediums, including the rather disastrous 2013 crime film The Counsellor, directed by Ridley Scott, for which the author had written the screenplay. In 2006, McCarthy released his second play, The Sunset Limited, which was vastly better than The Counsellor could ever hope to be.
First produced at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, The Sunset Limited eventually made its way to New York. After a series of critically acclaimed performances, it was finally adapted into a 2011 drama television film starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones. The latter of whom played Sheriff Ed Tom Bell in the Coen brothers’ 2007 film adaptation of McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men.
The Sunset Limited is a striking work of drama that explores themes of existentialism, faith and the frequent contrast between despair and hope in humanity. The play focuses on two characters known only as Black and White, who engage in an intense dialogue with their juxtaposed worldviews and seemingly differing religious beliefs after Black appears to have saved White from jumping in front of a train.
Back at Black’s sparse apartment, Black, a former convict and devout Christian, discusses the reality of human suffering with White, a depressed professor. The play’s cramped physical setting confines allow the focus to be placed directly on the philosophical and spiritual conversation between the two for the entirety of the narrative.
White is in the throes of a nihilistic bout of depression and has come to see life as meaningless. His background as an academic plays into his despairing worldview, one which sees his existence as a random occurrence in the storm and chaotic frenzy of the universe. However, this kind of existential despair finds its undoubted counterpoint with Black’s forthright faith.
Where White believes that redemption is impossible and that suicide is the only logical option for his predicament, Black’s belief In God and his violent past as a criminal makes the possibility of redemption seem more achievable. It is precisely because of Black’s faith that he can give the world a sense of meaning and purpose, even in the rundown confines of his humble domicile.
McCarthy does not allow either the views of Black or White to overshadow one another and treats them both with the same amount of respect and consideration. However, the fact that Black indeed saves White physically and then tries to urge him towards salvation shows the kind of respect that McCarthy has for human life, even one that lives in horror and despair.
Still, in the shadow of Samuel Beckett, McCarthy lets the battle between faith and nihilism remain unresolved and where both Black and White have undoubtedly suffered, the author shows that they are indeed opposed ways to confront it, whether through a devout faith in God or a tragic ending of one’s life, pain and suffering for good through suicide.
So while McCarthy’s work is often dominated by Blood Meridian and The Border Trilogy, his 2006 play The Sunset Limited serves as a vital existentialist entry into the master author’s canon. It challenges readers to consider the nature of human despair and the persistent search for meaning in a world seemingly barren of purpose.
