The Green Mile: Part 3: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

The next day, Paul heads to Tefton, in Trapingus County, to look for Burt Hammersmith, the reporter who covered Coffey’s trial. He heads to the newspaper where the man works but is told Hammersmith is at home. After being welcomed in by Hammersmith’s wife, he meets the reporter in his backyard, where two of his children are playing on a swing at a distance. Paul can tell from the way Mr. and Mrs. Hammersmith look that they have experienced some traumatic event together.

When Paul tells Hammersmith he has come to talk about Coffey, who spends most of his time calmly crying in prison, Hammersmith remarks that this is to be expected considering what he did. After making sure that Paul isn’t merely interested in the gory details of the crime, Hammersmith recounts the details of the Coffey investigation.

When Hammersmith finishes his story, he tries to figure out what exactly motivates Paul’s curiosity. Paul decides not to tell him about John’s healing, but merely asks if Hammersmith believes Coffey has committed other crimes before. While Hammersmith says it is probable he has, he also admits that it was extremely difficult for him to find any past trace of Coffey, despite the specific nature of the man’s characteristics. He supposes that what happened is that one day, out of the blue, Coffey decided to commit his crime. He mentions that the only reason the crime was noticed is because it was committed against white girls.

Hammersmith asks if Paul has seen Coffey’s scars, a detail which was used during the trial in Coffey’s defense. The jury, however, did not believe that mistreatment would in any way justify such a crime—a position Paul agrees with. As the conversation evolves, Hammersmith begins to understand that Paul is not actually trying to figure out if Coffey has committed other crimes in the past but, rather, that he is seeking to know if the seemingly tranquil Coffey has truly committed this one.

To address Paul’s doubts about Coffey’s guilt, Hammersmith tells him the story of his own dog. He compares black people to mongrel dogs and says that, despite the utter uselessness of dogs, people are used to having them around, and have grown to believe these animals are capable of love. One day, however, after his dog was involved in an accident, the reporter was forced to shoot him dead.

As Hammersmith is telling his story, his children begin to walk toward the house. Hammersmith calls to his four-year-old son, who shies away in embarrassment. However, when his dad forces him to raise his head, Paul sees that the boy’s face is completely deformed. A huge scar runs through his face, through one dead eye, all the way to his mouth. While Hammersmith comments that the boy is lucky to still have one eye, Paul imagines all the pain and humiliation that the child will have to endure throughout his life.

Hammersmith explains that even though the dog knew the children since their birth and had never shown any sign of aggression toward them, one day, for no discernible reason, the dog gave in to a fit of rage and attacked his son. Hammersmith returns to the topic of Coffey’s crime. He notes that he is against slavery but that Coffey is not innocent and that Coffey, like any mongrel dog, gave in to his animal instincts when he raped and killed the little Detterick girls. It is only after his crime that he began to feel sorry for what he had done. On his way back to the prison, Paul feels gloomy, carrying the image of Hammersmith’s disfigured son in his mind.