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Chapter 23
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
After Ray’s release, he starts to travel and talk about his experience. He even goes to Richard Branson’s private island with Lester and plays basketball with George Clooney. He tells his story to anyone who will listen: groups of celebrities, people who are working to end the death penalty, churches, colleges, and small meeting rooms. He knows he's a voice for everyone on death row.
Ray dedicates his life after death row to supporting the men who still remain there. While telling himself stories about celebrities was a powerful way to help Ray escape the confines of death row, now he is using his own story to convince those with influence to end the death penalty.
Themes
Ray fixes up his mom’s house and now lives there by himself. The first time he feels rain on his skin, he weeps. He walks every morning because he can. People ask him how he lives in Alabama, but he says it’s the only place he’s called home. Even though he hates the state of Alabama for what they did to him—no one has apologized for his conviction—he forgives them. If he were to hold onto hate, he wouldn’t be able to appreciate the rest of his life.
From Ray’s his experience on death row, he knows that being filled with hatred and anger will only cause him to lose the rest of his life. Instead, he recognizes the need to maintain a positive outlook. Still, he fully appreciates the harm that the state of Alabama caused him.
Themes
Ray has a hard time adjusting to life outside the row, though. He’s still up at 3:00 a.m., ready for breakfast; he only sleeps on one corner of his bed; he walks in front of security cameras on purpose; he doesn’t stay home alone without calling someone to tell them what he’s doing; and he doesn’t trust anyone except Lester and Bryan.
Even though Ray is still very positive, the fact that he worries that he could return to death row, or that other people might try to frame him once again, illustrates his knowledge that the bias in the system has not been eradicated whatsoever.
Themes
A few days a week, Ray works with Bryan at EJI, and he travels around and tells his story. He doesn’t have any retirement savings, and he wouldn’t retire if he could. He’s grateful to be alive and free. He also wants to advocate to end the death penalty and make sure that what happened to him never happens again. He keeps busy, and he’s been lucky to do things like travel the world—even visiting Buckingham palace on a private tour—but he would trade it all to get 30 years back, or one more minute with his mom.
Ray tries to stay positive by acknowledging that his story can make an impact, and by appreciating the opportunities that his experience has afforded him. At the same time, he makes it clear how much the experience has cost him and how he would trade in some of the luxuries he now has to get his 30 years and time with his mother back.
Themes
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Ray tries not to think, “Why me?” Instead he thinks, “Why anyone?” He says that no one is less worthy of justice than anyone else. But still, he forgives the people who found him guilty. He knows that they were taught to be racist, just as someone taught Henry Hays to be. He tries to look for meaning in his life—a reason for why things turned out the way they did. He knows that he has to find a way to recover after bad things happen—to choose love instead of choosing hate.
Ray concludes by acknowledging that no one deserves to have the experience that he has—and thus, the criminal justice system needs to be reformed to eradicate the bias against people who are not white and wealthy. And he argues once more for the importance of maintaining love and optimism in the face of difficult circumstances.
Themes
