Race Relations

Historically, the American South has been identified as the site of racial unrest between blacks and whites. This undercurrent of racism and racial mistrust still exists in the modern-day Louisiana of Sunset Limited. The author gives the reader a glimpse of race relations both past and present. For example, the inclusion of the Terrebonne family's history with slavery proves that such difficulties are self-perpetuating. The Terrebonne family's position as a rich and powerful force in New Iberia began with Elijah Terrebonne who is a prominent slave owner who returns from the Civil War only to find his plantation looted. Terrebonne's former slave, a woman by the name of Lavonia, is put to death for her role in the inadvertent deaths of Elijah Terrebonne's daughters. Lavonia's decision to poison the family was borne of the desperation brought about by the end of slavery in the South. In another...