Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Sun Does Shine, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Discrimination and the Criminal Justice System
Optimism, Faith, and Choice
The Death Penalty
Suffering, Community, and Support
The Power of Stories
Summary
Analysis
In March 2002, the state’s Attorney General Office files a writ to force the court to dismiss Ray’s petition because it would “waste three days or two days of taxpayer money.” Ray is hurt that the 16 years he spent in prison is less important than the two or three days of the attorney general’s time. After this statement, Bryan writes to Ray, assuring him that Judge Garrett is very suspicious that the state seems so desperate not to look at new evidence. They are filing a response in the next two weeks, and Bryan tells Ray to stay hopeful and that the hearing will likely be rescheduled in the next few months.
Ray again points out the state’s injustice—that his life isn’t worth anything to the attorney general. Even though they have made a mistake and wrongfully imprisoned a man for 16 years, they are doing everything they can not to take the time to make sure that Ray gets a fair appeals process. Even the judge, who was himself quite biased during Ray’s trial, recognizes the state’s unfairness.
Themes
Ray then thinks about the death penalty in general, wondering how any killing can be justified. If men don’t have the right to take a life, neither does the state. Even if a person is guilty, taking their life doesn’t bring back a life—it just creates an endless cycle of murder. He also knows that no one is born a murderer, and that every killer is taught to be one by parents, or a system, or brutality. He also thinks that life is a gift given by God, and therefore it can only be taken away by God as well.
In this section, Ray lays out various arguments against the death penalty, which is one of his major aims in the book. Here he comes at the death penalty from a logical angle, arguing that if people don’t have the right to murder, then neither do governments. He also examines it from a religious angle, implicitly referencing one of the Ten Commandments “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13), implying that people should not take each other’s lives—only God can do so.
Themes
Ray tries to choose hope and love on death row, but sometimes it becomes overwhelming and he leaves in his mind again. He dreams about divorcing Halle Berry for Sandra Bullock, but he never dreams about having children, however, as he doesn’t want to bear the thought of being separated from them. The guys on the row who have children bear a pain that is too much to witness. One of the guys on death row, George Sibley, is on death row along with his wife, Lynda. They had a nine-year-old son with them when they killed a police officer in 1993.
Ray continues to try and maintain hope and faith on death row, but when he is unable to, he returns to the stories that he can create in his mind. However, his thoughts about children remind readers of one of the costs of the corrupt justice system on Ray’s life: they have robbed him of the ability to get married and have kids, as any innocent person should be able to do. And in George and Lynda’s case, the state is making an orphan out of their son.
Themes
Ray gets his Rule 32 hearing in June 2002. Perhacs testifies that he didn’t have enough money to mount a defense and that Payne was unqualified. The three experts then testify that there is no proof the bullets at the crime scene matched Ray’s mom’s gun. Ray is glad to see his mom, Lester, and Phoebe. Perhacs barely acknowledges Ray, and McGregor isn’t at the hearing. Judge Garrett never looks at Ray.
Even Perhacs now acknowledges, 16 years later, that he didn’t have the money to mount a proper defense or pay a qualified expert. At the same time, the prosecution and Judge Garrett don’t acknowledge any mistake whatsoever, reinforcing how difficult it is to get people to correct their mistakes in the justice system.
Themes
Get the entire The Sun Does Shine LitChart as a printable PDF.
Judge Garrett notes that the experts’ testimony might just be a difference of opinion, but Bryan argues that these experts are unimpeachable. The Assistant Attorney General then claims that Payne was a competent expert, despite the fact that the state criticized Payne as incompetent during the first trial. Emphasizing that no one from the state can now prove what they proved in 1985, Bryan argues that Ray is innocent: the state made a mistake, and they’re essentially saying they don’t care about Ray’s innocence or evidence. The state continues to argue that Bryan simply shouldn’t be allowed to present new evidence.
Ray points out the state’s hypocrisy and how they continue to use faulty reasoning for their case. Whereas in the initial trial, they argued that Payne was incompetent in order to win their case, now they are trying to argue that Payne was an expert so that Bryan and Ray aren’t able to introduce new evidence into the trial. They are being willfully ignorant simply to keep Ray in jail.
Themes
After the hearing, Ray returns to Holman. He knows the evidence is compelling, but he doesn’t have a lot of faith in the system to do the right thing. He prays and goes to bed. When Ray wakes up, he hears a book club discussion going on, which makes him sad. All of the men in the original book club have been executed except for him, and book club stopped. There are no more meetings in the library, but guys still talk about the books in their cells. They talk about relationships, politics, violence—valuing the opportunity to have their opinions heard.
Even though Ray has essentially stopped the book club, this anecdote demonstrates how important the books still are to the inmates. Having access to books, thanks to Ray, allows them to discuss important issues and take their mind off of the harsh conditions of the prison, just as the books did for the men in book club.
Themes
Through the summer of 2002, Ray and Bryan wait for a ruling from Judge Garrett. When Lester visits one day, Ray is confident that he’ll be getting out. He says that God isn’t going to fail: “What things so ever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.” Lester thinks that Ray should have been a lawyer; Ray says maybe he’ll become one and put an end to the death penalty, or maybe he’ll open a restaurant. He asks Lester to ask his mom for his birth certificate so that he can leave the prison, and Lester says he’ll ask Ray’s sister.
Here, Ray cites Mark 11:24, illustrating once again how his renewed faith in God provides him with the optimism necessary to survive his time in prison—and even dream of what he might do when he gets out. Ray hints at how he wants to make a difference for the people on death row and fight to end the death penalty when he is released from Holman.
Themes
On September 22, 2002, the captain of the guards comes to Ray’s cell and informs him that his mom passed away. Ray begins to sob and shake; he feels nauseous and guilty that she died and he wasn’t there. He couldn’t tell her he loved her or say goodbye. Then, Ray hears an inner voice, telling him that the only person who believed he was innocent is gone. The voice says that there is nothing to live for anymore, and Ray starts to consider different ways to kill himself. He feels completely hopeless.
While Ray has chosen to be optimistic over his last decade in the prison, his faith and hope are tested most severely here. Ray’s mom’s death exposes the deep costs of his imprisonment as he wasn’t able to be with her as she died. Moreover, because she represented a beacon of continuous support for him, losing that support also increases his despair and suffering.
Themes
Suddenly, Ray hears his mom’s voice in his head, telling him that he has to keep fighting. She says that he is a light and that he can’t listen to the devil telling him to give up. His life isn’t for him to take—it’s for God to take. He has work to do and God has a purpose for him; he is not going to die in his cell. Ray’s mom concludes that he needs to stop crying and that he should tell the devil to go to hell where he belongs. Ray chuckles, and he soon falls asleep.
With Ray’s mother’s voice reminding him to maintain his faith in God, and telling him that he has the capacity to persevere, Ray is then able to keep fighting for his life rather than thinking about taking it. Even though her voice seems to be a manifestation of his own thoughts, feeling her support even from beyond the grave helps to ease his suffering.
Themes
After Ray wakes up, coffee, chocolate, cards, books, and candy arrive in his cell. The men give Ray their condolences and sympathy, and Ray thinks that “sorrow shared is sorrow lessened.” Suddenly, Jimmy Dill asks a question about a quote from To Kill A Mockingbird, “They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it—seems that only children weep.” He asks Ray what this means. Ray replies that only children cry when an innocent man is convicted. Jimmy says that he thinks that’s right, but just because it happened before and will happen again doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop fighting it.
The other inmates’ compassionate response to Ray’s mother’s passing also highlights the impact of community. Feeling their support, Ray explicitly notes that they have eased his sorrow. In addition, Jimmy’s discussion of this quote from To Kill a Mockingbird—which happens after Tom Robinson’s unjust conviction—again highlights the power of these stories in Ray’s life. They inspire Ray and the other inmates to keep fighting for their survival, even in the face of racism and injustice.
Themes
