The Green Mile: Part 6: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Paul tells the entire story to Janice in the morning, just a few hours later. Janice half-jokingly says that he should keep certain small details out of his official report—such as Coffey’s healing powers and the fact that Paul helped a condemned murderer escape from prison. Paul tells his wife that he doesn’t know if Percy will ever be normal again. Retrospectively, from the nursing home, Paul explains that Percy remained in psychiatric institutions for the rest of his life.

Hal Moores privately asks Paul if Coffey’s visit to his house has anything to do with what happened to Percy, and Paul denies it. He tells Moores that Percy was calm throughout his time in the restraint room and that he has always held a grudge against Wharton because of how Wharton had scared and humiliated him in the past.

As Paul and Janice continue to talk about what has happened, Janice becomes lost in thought and Paul suddenly finds himself wondering why the Detterick girls didn’t scream when they were taken. Janice asks Paul if he truly thinks Coffey intended to kill Wharton through Percy, and Paul says he does.

Janice then asks Paul to go through the details again of the moment when Wharton grabbed Coffey’s arm. As Paul recounts the story, Janice wonders why Coffey, who had never had any interaction with Wharton before, called him a bad man. She asks Paul to describe to her how Coffey’s face looked and, while Paul doesn’t understand why she is asking him all these questions, he says that Coffey looked surprised, but not merely because of being attacked out of the blue. Paul fails to describe how Coffey’s face looked, and Janice concludes that she is surprised at Coffey’s burst of violence, since he is not an inherently violent man. She also says that she does not understand how Paul could execute him if he knows Coffey is innocent. Suddenly, Paul is taken aback by an idea and realizes that he needs to find out more about it.