The Sunset Limitied by Cormac McCarthy

I was walking back from performing in Spring Awakening and thinking about what I was going to write for this blog post tonight. One thought kept coming back into my mind, "does God exist?" This thought was only multiplied by Black's words at the end of the play: "I don't understand what you sent me down there for. I don't understand it. If you wanted me to help him how come you didn't give me the words? You give em to him. What about me?"



Why does God, in all his infinite mercy and wisdom, sometimes give the short end of the stick to good people? Why did he create us? Why are there so many rules to living a virtuous life? Are we really just some big science experiment in salvation? I guess all of these questions could be answered by the age old adage, "God works in mysterious ways." But, when do the mysterious become the ridiculous? How are we lowly and unworthy creatures suppose to know when God wants us to do good? None of these questions have easy or satisfactory answers. I do believe that it is all chalked up to faith, on whether you believe or not. Just on a personal note, I do not believe that I am some kind of cosmic science experiment. I can not bring myself to believe that God who loves us so much could be filled with as much hate as people chalk him up to be. Sometimes, and often, it does not add up for me. I gave up on trying to figure out why I was put here, why I was "made." So many people waste their lives on why they are on the Earth and they forget to live. It is a shame. Why I am on this Earth is the least of my worries. I am more concerned with why I do things and the experience of life. In theory, I only have one life. I really don't want to waste it.



What The Sunset Limited does is raise these questions, but it does not answer them. It presents both sides and let's them battle it out. However, just like every time these two sides enter in battle, they end up in a draw, at least for the audience. Just like in life, every member of the audience is meant to hash out these issues for themselves.