The Sun Does Shine Discussion Questions

What is the importance of friendship in Anthony Ray Hinton’s life?

In The Sun Does Shine, Anthony Ray Hinton manages to survive the nearly 30-year ordeal of his wrongful imprisonment largely because of strong, supportive friendships. Loyalty is one of Hinton’s most important values, and what separates the people closest to him from everyone else is their loyalty. Although Hinton is one of 10 children, his brothers and sisters are rarely mentioned and given little representation in the book. He cherishes his close bond with his mother, but his siblings are largely absent during the narrative. Instead, his close friend Lester and later his attorney Bryan Stevenson serve as his main support structure. As he says to Lester during one visit, there isn’t a line of his siblings at the prison to see him. Instead, it’s his friend Lester who unfailingly comes to visit and lessen the pain of Hinton’s isolation.

Hinton also makes friends within death row, both with other inmates and with some of the guards. Among the most surprising relationships is his friendship with former KKK member Henry Hays. Despite Henry’s crime and his racist past, Hinton befriends him and helps change him into a better man. Hinton’s willingness to be friendly with the guards bothers some of the other inmates, but it pays off in better treatment, not only for Hinton but for all the inmates. Hinton’s friendship with his attorney Bryan Stevenson also helps the case. By becoming friends with Stevenson, Hinton is better able to trust him and thus persevere through the long struggle for justice. Through his bonds with Lester Bailey and Brian Stevenson, Hinton gains the courage and determination to keep struggling until his case is won.

What is the importance of faith in Anthony Ray Hinton’s life? 

In The Sun Does Shine, Anthony Ray Hinton’s sanity during his long imprisonment is anchored in his faith. During his arrest and trial, he maintains a positive outlook, largely a result of his faith in God and God’s justice. He manages to reaffirm his faith and express a Christian message of forgiveness and grace during his sentencing. At this point, he is still confident that justice and the truth will prevail and that he’ll be set free. However, during the first three years of his imprisonment on death row, he loses this faith. During this time, he refuses to speak, and his silence—a kind of nonviolent resistance to his unjust imprisonment—mirrors the apparent “silence” of God. Since God has not protected him, Hinton feels he has no more place for faith. This feeling ends one night when he hears another prisoner weeping, and his compassion reawakens his faith. From that point, although Hinton will again experience moments of doubt, he never again loses his faith. His faith is also instrumental in recovering from the death of his mother. Hinton chooses to believe she’s not gone but rather “arguing his case” before God in heaven. Critically, his faith also allows him to forgive his oppressors and not succumb to hatred. Early in his imprisonment, Hinton fears anger is turning him into the violent monster the justice system accuses him of being. Thanks to his belief in forgiveness, Hinton is able to curb these feelings and retain his gentle, compassionate self.

How does The Sun Does Shine examine the ethical issues inherent to the death penalty?

In The Sun Does Shine, Anthony Ray Hinton makes clear that he believes the death penalty is immoral and barbaric. While Hinton does acknowledge that proponents of the death penalty believe executing criminals might give solace to their victims’ families, this belief only creates a cycle of violence. He questions the idea of restitutional justice—an eye for an eye—arguing that creating more pain and death won’t make anything better. Instead “we’re just creating an endless chain of death and killing.” Although Hinton credits death row with reforming his friend Henry Hays and making him a better man, Henry’s execution meant he had no way of atoning further for his crime. Had Henry been allowed to live, he might have “become something” more than just a killer.

Hinton rejects the idea that the state has the right to take lives and believes the death penalty is a legalized form of murder. Indeed, when describing his sentencing at trial, Hinton terms it a “legal lynching.” These ideas, combined with the statistical evidence that many death row inmates are innocent like Hinton and the racial biases against Black men, show the system to be unfair. For Hinton, the risk of killing even one innocent person is too big a drawback for any supposed benefits the institution might yield.

In The Sun Does Shine, does Hinton argue for reparations for wrongful imprisonment?

In The Sun Does Shine, Anthony Ray Hinton covers how he lost nearly 30 years of his life to unjust imprisonment while facing the death penalty. Despite this grave injustice, Hinton makes no direct plea for reparations, monetary or otherwise, for himself or for other victims of wrongful imprisonment. There are three possible reasons for this. First and most obvious is that he may not believe in reparations. Second, the purpose of the book is not to advocate for reparations but rather to voice opposition to the death penalty. Third, no possible reparation the government could offer would return lost time. It’s also possible that all three reasons are behind Hinton’s silence on the issue of reparations or that Hinton doesn’t speak of reparations because such laws are already in effect in many places. In addition to Hinton’s home state of Alabama, 37 others plus the District of Columbia have laws that offer some form of reparation to people wrongfully convicted and imprisoned. Rather than speak about reparations, after his exoneration and release, Hinton committed himself to advocating for the abolition of the death penalty.

Does the book argue that people should be defined by their worst actions or their best actions?

Throughout The Sun Does Shine, Hinton shows that even good people make mistakes and that even the most vicious killers are capable of kindness. One of the main ideas addressed in the memoir is that no one is entirely good or evil. As Hinton remarks, everyone is “guilty of something” and “innocent at the same time.” While he was innocent of the murders for which the state of Alabama sentenced him to death, he had made mistakes in his past, such as stealing a car and cashing fake checks. Although these mistakes should not have defined him, for the state of Alabama they were more important than whatever good he might have done.

Yet Hinton does not try to argue that mistakes or sins should be ignored. While he is able to forgive his death row friend Henry for lynching a Black boy and even forgive prosecutor Bob McGregor for getting him convicted, these crimes still matter. Rather, Hinton would likely say that it is not for humans to judge other people and such judgment belongs only to God. When Hinton says everyone is guilty and innocent, he means that everyone has the capacity to do good and evil and that people should treat others accordingly. People should be careful not to blindly trust others who might have evil intentions but be prepared to love and forgive, regardless of what they have done.