The Sun Does Shine Summary and Analysis

Summary: Chapters 1–4

Chapter 1, “Capital Offense,” begins with a flash-forward to Anthony Ray Hinton’s sentencing and the statement he makes before the sentencing. He wonders whether his imprisonment was the result of his own mistakes or simply “determined by being black and poor” in the South. He recounts the visits from his mother and from his best friend while awaiting trial at the county jail, thankful for their unwavering love and support. At the courthouse, the prosecutor Bob McGregor shows open hostility toward him, while the judge appears bored. Despite his discomfort in court, Hinton manages to deliver a heartfelt speech in which he forgives his accusers for charging him with murders he didn’t commit and expresses confidence that God will set everything right. The judge sentences Hinton to death by electrocution, though Hinton considers the sentence a legal lynching.

In Chapter 2, “All American,” Hinton shifts back in time to his high school years when he is hoping to secure a baseball scholarship. As a Black athlete in newly integrated schools, Hinton faces racial discrimination from white spectators and competitors. He faces racism in his daily life as well, causing him and his best friend, Lester, to hide in ditches when unfamiliar cars pass them on the road. 

In Chapter 3, “A Two-Year Test Drive,” Hinton fails to secure a baseball scholarship and finds employment in the coal mines where his father used to work and which Hinton dislikes intensely. As a young man, Hinton is a prodigious womanizer, admitting that his weakness has always been women. However, he has great respect for his mother, who is his main moral influence. Despite his upstanding character, Hinton makes mistakes, such as stealing a car while pretending to test drive it and then keeping it for two years. Eventually his guilt eats at him; remembering what his mother taught him, he confesses to the crime, for which he serves a short jail term followed by community service. He vows never to steal again.

Chapter 4, “The Cooler Killer,” begins in 1985 when a series of robberies and murders targeting fast-food restaurant managers occurs in Hinton’s area. Although Hinton was working in a locked warehouse during one of the murders, he is arrested, and the police seize his mother’s gun (which hasn’t been fired in years) as evidence. Hinton cooperates with the police and shows no fear during his arrest because he knows he did nothing wrong.

Analysis: Chapters 1–4

To show how racial injustice is central to his narrative, Hinton begins his memoir with incidents from his life following his arrest and leading up to his sentencing. The opening scenes at the county jail and in the courtroom show the beginning of Hinton’s struggles with his personal faith, where he continues to insist that justice will prevail despite evidence to the contrary. His descriptions of the prosecutor as evil and the judge as indifferent show what little regard the justice system holds for him. Despite this situation, his impassioned speech underscores a guiding principle of Hinton’s life: forgiveness of even the most terrible acts. In the face of the prosecutor’s hatred, Hinton expresses love. This love also is mirrored in his recollection of the baseball game in Chapter 2, when Hinton recounts a white pitcher who would get angry and try to rile him up, but Hinton would always keep calm and face him with grace. Hinton attempts to summon the same grace in the courtroom, despite his fear and anger. Rather than being crushed by the death sentence, Hinton sees it as a chance because it means he has the right to appeal. Therefore, the death sentence, rather than an end, is the beginning of his fight for justice.

Shifting to the circumstances of his youth, Hinton recounts his friendship with Lester, his strong relationship with his mother, and his fondness for womanizing, all of which are important to the unfolding narrative. While describing his womanizing habits, he mentions Reggie, an embittered rival who, unbeknownst to Hinton at the time, will return years later to exact his vengeance by wrongfully identifying Hinton as the Cooler Killer. During these early chapters, Hinton shows himself to be a man of contradicting values: goodhearted but reckless with women, upstanding but prone to impulsive, dishonest acts, such as defrauding the car dealership. One of the major ironies of Hinton’s story is that after he commits to living honestly, he is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. His relationship with his mother is also important: although she teaches him the dangers of the world, she also teaches him to trust and respect authority and a law that has no respect for him.