Existential Despair in Black and white Characters

• Existentially

 both characters display the basic characteristics of  philosophy :Both Black and White grapple with issues of freedom and  responsibility throughout the play. White, who is suicidal, suffers from  the burden of his past actions and the choices he made. On the other  hand, Black tries to convince White that he has the freedom to choose life  over death, but he also acknowledges the weight of responsibility that  comes with that choice. Authenticity, or the idea of living an honest and  authentic life, is a core theme in existentialism. Both characters confront  their authenticity in different ways. White is disillusioned with life and  questions the validity of his existence, while Black tries to help White  face the reality of his situation and embrace authenticity. White's despair  and existential angst are evident throughout the play, as he grapples with  the meaninglessness of life and the inevitability of death. Although Black  is more grounded and practical, he also struggles with his own existential  angst as he tries to understand White's desperation and find meaning in  their conversation. Throughout the play, both characters engage in a  search for meaning and purpose in life. White's suicidal tendencies stem  from his lack of meaning, while Black attempts to provide him with a  sense of purpose and reason to live.(McCarthy, 2006,p6)

• The play

 opens with two characters sitting round a table in a subway  tenement apartment in the black ghettos of New York. The first character  is a large African American ex-convict who turned into a street preacher  and the other character is a middle aged White college professor. Even  though the stage directions refer to these characters as "The professor"  and "the black man", when designating the speakers of the lines they are  referred to as "White" and "Black". The audiences. learn from the  dialogue that earlier on White had tried to commit suicide attempting to  jump in front of a subway train. Nevertheless, Black subsequently saves  him and takes him back to his apartment as a sort of virtual prisoner in  order to find out the reasons behind his attempt and to convince him to  drop the idea of suicide and value his own life. Eventually, both characters are engaged in a deep and intensive philosophical debate about God, human existence and human suffering.  During this stark debate, they talk of general issues, drink coffee, eat, and  every once and a while White gets up insisting on leaving, however,  Black convinces him to stay a little longer then they are once again participate in their conversation. As the dialogue goes on it becomes more  intense till the degree that at t the end of the play white, not convinced 1  by Black's Black's words, burst out tin anger claiming his incredibly  deviated and decimating beliefs then leaves the apartment still insists on  committing suicide. Eventually, Black collapses on his knees in tears  calling out to God in a state of doubt in his own faith (Rabia, 2016,p743- 744)

• Reference

1. McCartfry, Cormac he kuad. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print. 
2. Salah Mohamed Rabia, Mohamed. “The Literary Impact of the Absurd  Movement on Cormac McCarthy’s “The Sunset Limited: A Novel in  Dramatic Form.” Journal of Arts and Humanities 83.4 (2016): 743-758