Question: Just before Del's execution, Paul realises that the sponge is dry because there's no water on the floor. Why didn't he halt the execution before the switch was thrown? If he had, Del wouldn't have suffered an agonizing death.
jimba
2nd Apr 2018
The Green Mile (1999)
Answer: They all had pistols. In Last of the Mohicans Hawkeye shoots the British officer being burned alive to spare him the suffering. You'd think these guys would have thought to do the same.
It is shown in great detail how precise and professional the guards are during an execution, and how seriously they take it. There is simply no scenario where any of the guards would have taken out their service weapon and used it on Del in a room full of people.
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Answer: It was only 15 seconds between when Paul first sees what doesn't look right until the switch is thrown. He was spending most of that time looking at the rest of the floor and Edward's head to see if he could see wetness, which only left about two to four seconds from when he probably was actually concerned until the switch was thrown. The ceremony is obviously very structured, and if he halted it at the last second it would be a major issue so if he did and nothing was wrong there would be hell to pay so he probably trusted (poorly) that he was mistaken rather than take the risk. There is also an attitude of not getting your coworkers in trouble so stopping the execution would also go against that - the trouble of an execution with a dry sponge is a counterargument that probably didn't dawn on him in the couple seconds in which the decision had to be made.
jimba
He could have take the bucket and doused Del's head. This would have resolved the dry sponge issue immediately.
That's a terrible idea. He could get others wet including himself and electrocute them.
lionhead