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
To make Delacroix leave his cell for the guards to rehearse his execution, Brutal takes Delacroix and Mr. Jingles to perform their tricks in front of a group of prison staff. Delighted at the idea of showing off his mouse’s feats, Delacroix believes himself to be in charge of a circus. After he leaves, excited at the prospect of the show, Paul gets the guards ready for rehearsal. When Toot-Toot, as usual, begins to narrate everything he is doing, saying “I’m sittin down, I’m sittin down, I’m sittin down,” Paul feels for a second that what they do in this prison is, more than Mr. Jingles’s tricks, a real circus.
Delacroix’s excitement at being in charge of a circus contrasts ironically with the true reason he is made to do this: to distract from the fact that the guards are preparing for his execution. Paul’s feeling that he himself is involved in a circus act signals his frustration with having to kill yet another prisoner—a sobering act that Toot-Toot does not take seriously. Paul’s discomfort suggests that he has deep reservations about the very action he is getting ready to perform.
Themes
