Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Green Mile, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Death and the Death Penalty
Morality and Justice
Love, Compassion, and Healing
Racism
Summary
Analysis
Paul describes Georgia Pines, the nursing home where he is spending his old age. While he considers it a relatively pleasant, cruelty-free place, Paul explains that, like the Green Mile, the nursing home implicitly kills its residents. In addition, one of the workers, Brad Dolan, reminds Paul of Percy. Brad is stupid, enjoys being mean, and calls Paul “Paulie” despite Paul’s pleas for him to stop. Paul explains that, in the nursing home, he is busy writing down his memories of the year 1932, using John Coffey’s arrival as his central landmark.
Paul compares Georgia Pines to the Green Mile, suggesting that everyone is bound to suffer through the ordeal of death and that one’s guilt or innocence does not impact how painful or painless one’s last days will be. Ordinary life can be strikingly similar to life in prison. Cruelty proves to arise in all places, as Brad shows capable of the same cruelty as Percy was.
Themes
