The Nature of Dialogue:

The Sunset Limited and No Exit

 

             A conversation can mean many things. We create them every day, without even giving it a second thought. Communication can inspire, it can torment, it can change our lives with just a flick of the tongue. So what is the nature of dialogue? Is it’s true purpose something more than just a matter of shooting the breeze? Dialogue has such a huge impact on the life experience. “Typically, conversation is not forced, but depends more properly on two or more parties being interested in a subject, be it in an agreeable or antagonistic mode (a cheery tête-à-tête versus a heated argument). The topic under discussion and the remarks of other people may hold one’s attention and interest, and so one participates, responds with one’s own thoughts.”(Quirk, William. “‘Minimalist Tragedy’: Nietzschean Thought in McCarthy’s The Sunset Limited.” Cormac McCarthy Journal Fall 2010)    

There is a play, that I would like to think is based entirely around the strength of its dialogue, Cormac McCarthy’s The Sunset Limited. Two men are sitting at a table in a small room, “This is a room in a tenant building in a black ghetto neighborhood in New York City.”(McCarthy) It was only hours earlier they were complete strangers. But not only do they share the space around them now, but they also have an incredible experience to share. The characters are known only as Black, who is possibly in his late 50s, African American man and White who is a middle aged Caucasian man, and that Black refers to always as Professor. Now maybe McCarthy was on to something by keep their identities vague. As viewers we do learn some about their lives, where they come from, events that hold significance. But it is clear to me that because of this choice to keep things simple, our attention is much more focused on the dialogue between Black and White, and the unintentional relationship they have built. The play begins:

BLACK. So what am I supposed to do with you, Professor?

WHITE. Why are you supposed to do anything?

BLACK. I done told you. This ain't none of my doin. I left out of here this mornin to go to work you wasn't no part of my plans at all. But here you is.

WHITE. It doesn't mean anything. Everything that happens doesn't mean something else.

BLACK. Mm hm. It don't.

WHITE. No. It doesn't.

BLACK. What's it mean then?

WHITE. It doesn't mean anything. You run into people and maybe some of them are in trouble or whatever but it doesn't mean that you're responsible for them.

BLACK. Mm hm. (McCarthy)

One can only imagine how awkward of a conversation it would be, sitting down and chatting after a subway train suicide attempt. Obviously there are light tones and dark tones to their words. McCarthy has written a strong play with very intricate characters, which keeps us listening, bringing the audience into the conversation.

The entire construction of the play, only one room, small, intimate, just two people talking, debating, learning, reminds me of another, Jean Paul Sartre’s No Exit. It is in this play that we are also invited into a single room, where there are conversations and discussions. We are introduced to three different characters, they all are given names and refer to each other as such, two women and one man. They have been guided to this room, which happens to be located in Hell. What makes it kind of odd, to the audience as well as the characters, is that it is not at all what they expected hell to be like. Garcin, who is the gentleman, is the first to enter, followed later by Inez and then Estelle. As they enter at their separate times they are surprised to find no torment taking place, instead just plain walls and furniture. Unlike The Sunset Limited, in No Exit there is one other character. He is only known as the Valet, and to be honest I am not sure it specifies whether it is a man or woman. Mainly, because I feel it does not matter. What really matters is their interactions with each other, and how their connections develop through their dialogue:

VALET. And you’ll find that living in a Second Empire drawing-room has its points.

GARCIN. Really?...Yes, yes, I dare say…Still I certainly didn’t expect—this! You know what they tell us down there?

VALET. What about?

GARCIN. About…this- er—residence?

VALET. Really, sir, how could you believe such cock-and-bull stories? Told by people who’d never set foot here. For, of course, if they had—

GARCIN. Quite so. But I say, where are the instruments of torture?

VALET. The what?

GARCIN. The racks and the red hot pinchers and all the other paraphernalia? (Sartre)

Once all three arrive they exchange words, and do a sort of meet and greet and we are shown through these first few verbal exchanges what kind of people they are. Garcin, a pacifist who tried to run from war, Estelle a heartbreaker obsessed with her own vanity of her reality, and then there is Inez, a woman who tries to connect with people, struggles because she allows jealousy to consume her. I am intrigued by these characters, but I do not sympathize for them. They talk with hollow words it seems.

Is it possible that Black and White’s conversations may feel more meaningful to themselves and the audience because there are only two of them? Or maybe it is how their story began that might give the sense of a deeper emotional sensation:

                        WHITE. I should go. I'm beginning to get on your nerves.

                        BLACK. No you ain't. Don't pay no attention to me. You seem like

a sweet man, Professor. I reckon what I don't understand is how come you to get yourself in such a fix. (McCarthy)

Black wants to get to know White, he wants him to stay, maybe to learn something about White and then in turn learn something about himself. Their meeting couldn’t have happened just by chance could it? Black does not believe so. There is more to all of this. He feels the need for this moment to continue, so that they can both gain from it, Black talks, then he listens. White listens, then he talks. These two actions are very important when trying to have an impactful conversation.

In No Exit, the three characters Garcin, Inez and Estelle try at first to listen to one another, but it is short lived. Instead of wanting to listen and ask questions to learn about another, they only point out each other’s flaws and in turn try to hide their own. Do they want to open up to one another, or is it merely the three only squabbling:

INEZ. Estelle!  

ESTELLE. Please, Mr. Garcin!  

GARCIN. What is it?  

ESTELLE. You're sitting on my sofa.  

GARCIN. I beg your pardon.  

ESTELLE. You looked so--so far away. Sorry I disturbed you.  

GARCIN. I was setting my life in order. You may laugh but you'd do better to follow my example.  

INEZ. No need. My life's in perfect order. It tidied itself up nicely of its own accord. So I needn't bother about it now.  

GARCIN. Really? You imagine it's so simple as that. (Sartre)

With the trio going back and forth while trying to adjust to their new situation, it’s a surprise if they had heard one another at all. It could be that they are not interested in what the other has to say, their only concern is themselves, which might have a lot to do with why they are in hell in the first place.

In The Sunset Limited Black tries his best to figure out White. He has so many questions and is intrigued by the situation of their meeting. White tries to keep to himself through the evening and makes multiple attempts to leave, but Black won’t have it. One of the times White tries to make his way out, as if he is done with the situation rather than the conversation, but Black just continues speaking as if White’s leaving was all part of the evening at hand:

WHITE. What?

BLACK. Nothin. I'm just settin here studyin the ways of professors.

WHITE. Yeah. Well, I've got to go. (The black gets up.)

BLACK. Well. Let me get my coat.

WHITE. Your coat?

BLACK. Yeah.

WHITE. Where are you going?

BLACK. Goin with you.

WHITE. What do you mean? Going with me where?

BLACK. Goin with you wherever you goin.

WHITE. No you're not.

BLACK. Yeah I am.

WHITE. I'm going home.

BLACK. All right.

WHITE. All right? You're not going home with me. (McCarthy)

 

So with a simple back and forth of words the whole mood of the room changes, White possibly wonders, why does this man care so much? Maybe it is Black’s faith maybe it is his faith in White. As the two continue to interact and converse, you see a change in both men. You can feel how their words are making waves with one another, some positive some a little more unsettling.
In No Exit, Inez seems to be the one who likes to ruffle feathers and make waves. But might it be that she sees through Estelle and Garcin’s airy talk, and knows a deeper truth. Estelle and Garcin seem very well apt to talk the talk, but can they walk the walk? Much can be spoken, but was there anything really said:

INEZ. Yes, I see. Look here! What's the point of play-acting, trying to throw dust in each other's eyes? We're all tarred with the same brush.  

ESTELLE. How dare you!  

INEZ. Yes, we are criminals-- murderers-- all three of us. We're in hell, my pets; they never make mistakes, and people aren't damned for nothing.  

ESTELLE. Stop! For heaven's sake--  

INEZ. In hell! Damned souls-- that's us, all three!  

ESTELLE. Keep quiet! I forbid you to use such disgusting words.  

INEZ. A damned soul-- that's you, my little plaster saint. And ditto our friend there, the noble pacifist. We've had our hour of pleasure, haven't we? There have been people who burned their lives out for our sakes-- and we chuckled over it. So now we have to pay the reckoning.  

GARCIN: Will you keep your mouth shut, damn it! (Sartre)

It shows how strong of an impact a simple conversation can have, or how quickly it can turn. Dialogue can most certainly be used for good but for devious things as well.

But what are the outcomes of these conversations, are they meant to help or to harm, to enlighten or to learn.  It all depends on who is speaking. Black does much of the talking early on in The Sunset Limited but White listens carefully to what he says and tries to understand in his own way. Black wants to search for the good in White and wants him to see what he is trying to uncover, that there is more to life:

BLACK. …I just get more amazed by the minute, that's all. How come you can't see yourself, honey? You plain as glass. I can see the wheels turnin in there. The gears. And I can see the light too. Good light. True light. Can't you see it?

WHITE. No. I can't.

BLACK. Well bless you, brother. Bless you and keep you. Cause it's there. (McCarthy)

            I think the nature of dialogue is the nature of understanding one another. There needs to be more to all the babble between people. The Sunset Limited gives a glimpse at the strength it can have and how it changes us, makes us question that which is around us. How do we see each other, and what stories do we have to tell? No Exit is different in the way that these people have accepted that they are in hell, but they still think all the everyday trivial issues are relevant. When none of those things matter they are only left with their conversation. And it is then that we see their true nature, and their lack of actual acceptance.

  The word dialogue means only this, the conversation between two or more people. But as I have mentioned, a conversation can hold so much more. It is what can make or break a first impression it is through communication that we learn about one another. But how can we do this in an effective manner? When we speak with someone, are we listening or are we just waiting for our turn to speak? I think the nature of dialogue is the nature of understanding one another.