Hal Moores Character Analysis in The Green Mile

Hal Moores is described as the most honest warden that Paul has worked with during his career as a guard at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Hal’s combination of integrity and political savvy allows him to maintain his position at the prison while avoiding unethical political games. Endowed with a strong sense of authority and discipline, he shows himself capable of confronting danger head-on, unafraid to engage in a fight with a violent prisoner or to step out of his house, shotgun in hand, when he hears Harry’s car in the driveway in the middle of the night. He is devoted to his wife and shows emotional vulnerability in front of Paul a few times, despite the embarrassment that this causes in him.

Hal Moores Character Timeline in The Green Mile

The timeline below shows where the character Hal Moores appears in The Green Mile. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...is a time of unforgettable events. A strong heat makes the fall feel like summer. The warden ’s wife, Melinda, is briefly in the hospital. Paul himself suffers from illness: a terrible... (full context)

Love, Compassion, and Healing Theme Icon

The next day, Paul receives a note from warden Moores summoning him to his office. He knows that this concerns the interaction he had with... (full context)

After discovering this bad news, Paul heads to warden Moores’s office. Paul describes Hal Moores as the most honest of the three wardens he has... (full context)

Moores then reaches the heart of the matter, telling Paul that he received an angry call... (full context)

Moores also tells Paul that Percy has apparently submitted an application to transfer to Briar Ridge... (full context)

Despite Paul’s incomprehension, Moores tells Paul that a speedy way to get rid of Percy would be to put... (full context)

Before Paul leaves, Moores asks him if he thinks Coffey is going to be any trouble. Paul replies that... (full context)

...later discovered the reasons behind Percy’s behavior. Years later, at a dinner, when neither warden Moores nor Paul were working at the prison anymore, Hal told Paul that, around the same... (full context)

Paul decides to go to the prison early and tell warden Moores to put Brutus Howell in charge of Wharton’s reception. When he arrives at the prison... (full context)

A few moments later, after Hal Moores has composed himself. He apologizes, embarrassed at having shown himself so vulnerable. In the... (full context)

...Delacroix, for no reason that Paul can identify. Paul sends Percy off to give warden Moores a brief report of what happened. (full context)

That week, Melinda Moores returns from the hospital and Paul and Janice go to visit her. When they see... (full context)

Hal walks in and takes Paul aside, telling him how hard it is to see his... (full context)

After making sure that the men will let him talk first to warden Moores and that no newspapers will publish what has happened, Anderson turns toward Percy and tells... (full context)

In the morning, while Paul is drinking his third cup of coffee in the kitchen, Hal Moores calls him on the phone. His voice sounds aged and exhausted. He tells Paul... (full context)

When Paul asks Hal how Melinda is, he says her state is rapidly deteriorating and that she has started... (full context)

Paul tells Janice, who has been listening to the conversation, that Melinda Moores is getting worse. Janice tells Paul that she can tell he is planning something. She... (full context)

...their jobs. He mentions that none of them, except for Paul and his wife, know Moores’s wife Melinda. Paul tells him that she is a good woman and he would like... (full context)

...man escape and, in doing so, risking his job and his freedom to help Melinda Moores. Dean asks if Paul truly believes that Coffey could heal her brain tumor and Paul... (full context)

...it makes more sense to bring Coffey to Melinda than the other way around, for Hal would never allow it. When he mentions that he had thought of using his car,... (full context)

During the hour-long ride to Moores’s house, Paul begins to feel nervous and to doubt the very idea that Coffey could... (full context)

...lights in the house turn on, and Paul realizes that they are all terrified. Suddenly, Hal Moores opens the door of his house and steps out in his pajamas, holding a... (full context)

...trying to keep him and his colleagues from completing the good deed of healing Melinda Moores. (full context)

When Harry walks over with John Coffey, Hal raises his gun and threatens to shoot. Suddenly, Melinda Moores’s voice can be heard behind... (full context)

Unsettled by the situation, Moores begins to waver and Coffey walks up, moving Harry aside. Paul feels that the evil... (full context)

While Melinda is still swearing profusely, Coffey says he wants to help her. When Hal objects, saying she cannot be helped, Brutal says they want to try. In that moment,... (full context)

Lying on her bed, Melinda Moores looks unrecognizable. Her skin is livid and drooping, her hair a mess, and her chamber... (full context)

...asks Coffey why his body is covered in scars and Coffey says he doesn’t remember. Hal watches the scene, gripping Paul’s shoulder so hard that he leaves a bruise. Melinda asks... (full context)

...does not remember anything from the past few weeks. When she asks about the X-ray, Hal tells her they didn’t find a tumor and he bursts into tears. Melinda asks who... (full context)

...that it is getting late and that they should head out. Paul says goodbye to Hal, reminding him to keep the secret about the fact that they came to his house,... (full context)

Hal Moores privately asks Paul if Coffey’s visit to his house has anything to do with... (full context)

...a coward and Paul makes a joke about it. She tells Paul not to tell Hal anything about Coffey’s innocence. She asks Paul if he and the guards will all be... (full context)

...John Coffey’s execution finally comes, on November 20th. The guards feel sick and nervous and Hal Moores is shaking so much he can barely button his shirt, but Coffey seems surprisingly... (full context)

...are fourteen witnesses at the execution, including Homer Cribus and Klaus and Marjorie Detterick—although, like Hal Moores, Deputy McGee is absent. As John and the guards walk toward the chair, Marjorie... (full context)

...She begins to cry and Paul holds her. She asks Paul what happened to Melinda Moores and Paul says she died about ten years later of a heart attack, outliving Hal... (full context)