Question: When the guards are talking to Percy in the restraint room, Paul says he knows he sabotaged Del's execution. Why did he let him get away with it?
MovieFan612
14th Jun 2016
The Green Mile (1999)
Answer: In addition to previous answers, it is probably also worth mentioning that they will never be able to prove it. Percy mentions multiple times that he "didn't know the sponge was supposed to be wet," even when they are back in the Green Mile and only Paul and the other guards are around, indicating that it will be his defense when they ever make it into a thing, knowing that they will never be able to prove otherwise.
18th Jun 2018
The Green Mile (1999)
Question: Why is Paul on active prison guard duty with a debilitating medical condition, as opposed to some form of sick leave, or at the very least a desk job? On several occasions we see him either made vulnerable or even out-and-out helpless.
Answer: He's one of those people who is dedicated to his job and will say he is OK even when he isn't, and keep working. He will power through and not let anyone know how sick he really is.
They are in the midst of the Great Depression. No one wants to give their employer the opportunity to fire them. They are all fighting to keep their jobs.
23rd Sep 2018
The Green Mile (1999)
Question: What was with the scene where John picks up and smells the grass after he's snuck out to help Melinda? And what did John mean when he said 'no matter how it happened, Del was the lucky one.' Did John somehow take all that pain so Del wouldn't? I never really got it.
Answer: He smelled the grass because he had missed it being locked up. As for the other thing, John was tired, he constantly felt the pain of others around him, he wanted it to stop. Del died, to John that's the way out, to get rid of the pain. Even though Del felt a lot of pain, for John it doesn't matter, as long as he gets out, so the pain stops. He didn't take Del's pain.
Watch John closely during Del's execution. His body reacts the same as Del's throughout. He said Del's the lucky one because he wouldn't know earthly pain any longer, something that John is longing for by the time of his own execution.
He didn't take his pain.
I believe that John himself had lived a long time because of his powers, maybe he couldn't die from old age, but could be killed like other people, he was tired of being alive, so the execution was his way out.
Answer: He smells the grass, because it's pure.
22nd Nov 2021
The Green Mile (1999)
Question: How long will Old Paul live for?
Answer: At the end of the movie, it's discovered that Mr. Jingles is 64 years old. This is about sixteen times the life span of a regular mouse. Since this logic could apply to Paul, he could live anywhere between 1,300 and 1,500 years.
Nice idea but the math ain't mathin'. Your equation presumes that Mr. Jingles dies at age 64. But he is still alive! It seems more likely that John Coffey gave Paul and Mr. Jingles an indefinite natural life. They live forever unless something kills them. I'm sure if Paul was in a plane explosion over the Atlantic, he would die.
This is actually much simpler than either one of you are making it out to be: the answer is, there is no answer. We know that Paul and Mr Jingles are going to live longer lives because of John Coffey, and anything beyond that is pure speculation. I think this was intentionally left vague to keep the audience without a clear answer to Paul's fate, just like Paul is left without a clear answer.
It is implied in one of the very last shots that Mr. Jingles dies. Furthermore, Paul specifically says in the voice-over that he will not have an indefinite life, just an extended life.
Answer: The book tells you how old Mr. Jingles is when he dies, in a round sort of way. While they can be killed, and do age, their life span though extremely long, is finite by the fact the mouse dies. Unfortunately, we don't get to know if both the mouse and Paul received the same amount of 'energy' and so can't assume Paul will live to the same age by an extended factor of x as Jingles, only that he will live a considerable amount of time beyond human expectation.
Answer: Paul and the mouse both aged considerably. No one ever said they weren't aging, just that the power from John was making them live extremely long lives.
Answer: If Paul could live to be that old then he would still be looking young. He would not be looking like a centenarian.
Gravity is relentless.
Answer: Since John Coffey was able to die via execution, we can assume that Paul could be killed. This means that, like John, Paul would have to choose to die. All we know is that John gave Paul a piece of himself - perhaps that piece was immortality?
Chosen answer: Percy's aunt is married to the state Governor, giving Percy powerful connections. All it would take is one phone call from Percy and Paul and the other guards could lose their jobs and if Percy wanted to, never find jobs again. Something Paul or his friends didn't want to happen.
The characters talk about this several different times in the movies, how political connections can ruin careers.
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