46 pages • 1 hour read
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Transport and Transportation
Hinton admits to having stolen a car before his eventual imprisonment. While it gives him the ability to travel and enjoy freedom, the car soon symbolizes his guilt. No matter how much care he puts into the car—installing a sound system, washing and waxing it—the car begins to weigh down on him. He has been driving his mother around in this car, but can no longer bear his guilt: He would have to confess his crime to his mother.
In other instances, Hinton would imagine himself on an airplane, with a bed all to himself. He could be transported, at least in his mind, to another place and time. He would also, however, struggle on the van ride from the county jail to Holman prison. He imagines the van crashing. He observes, through the window, other vehicle passengers moving—literally or metaphorically—from here to there: “I saw a black man, about my age, drive by in a Buick. ‘Watch out,’ I murmured out loud. ‘They’re going to come for you too’” (82).
Finally, upon getting a ride away from prison by his friend Lester, he notes his own weariness about what cars meant to him before, and what they mean to him now. Unlike his prized car, Lester’s is old and tired; Lester suggests that they, too, are old and tired. Hinton is further shocked to hear the GPS instructions. There were too many things to learn; driving had become a burden.
Confinement
As an image, confinement recurs frequently in Hinton’s story. The most obvious example is his description of his 5-by-7 foot cell. In addition, he notes the prospect of having to work in the claustrophobic environment of the coalmines, and of growing up in a segregated, and then desegregated south. By the end of his story, the sudden lack of confinement seems to wear on him: Rather than sleeping on a bed on his first night of freedom, he feels more comfortable on the bathroom floor, door closed, of his friend’s home: the approximate dimensions of his former cell.
The most devastating prospect of confinement, one that Hinton witnesses again and again but is fortunate enough to avoid, is the “Yellow Mama,” or the electric chair. Typically, those to be executed had to wear a black bag over their heads while they were placed in the chair.
Food and Nourishment
The act of breaking bread regularly features in Hinton’s narrative. When Henry Hays’s father dies, the others share their food. Hinton is also offered shared food upon hearing the news that his mother has passed away: “The gifts started arriving immediately after I woke up. Coffee. Chocolate. Sweets of all kinds” (201).
None of the inmates would, of course, die of actual starvation; spiritual starvation is another matter. All of these instances serve in stark contrast to Hinton’s earlier consideration of food, just before goes to Holman:
[The guards] put me in a holding cell and gave me a breakfast of congealed eggs and a hard biscuit and jelly. I put the food in my mouth, but it had no taste. How was it possible to take away all the taste in food? (80).
Hinton later learned these meals were given only as basic, meager, sustenance; just enough to keep him from collapsing from starvation until he could be executed. The shared meals—even if they consisted of the same basic elements—were precious, spiritual nourishment.
Unlock all 46 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
