Themes of The Green Mile and How They Relate to Contemporary Society.
By Michael Kwon
The Green Mile is a movie adapted from the book written by Stephen King in 1996. The story takes place during the Great Depression, an especially harrowing period of time in American history. The Great Depression caused drastic societal change in a very abrupt manner. The implications of these consequences resulted in a backpedaling of society towards an economic and social recession. Through my research, I learned that multiple factors resulted in the great upheaval experienced during the Great Depression. Scarcity of jobs and labor resulted in a scrambling for opportunity. This scarcity resulted in attitudes of despair and competition, resulting in what may have been deemed to be necessary conflict. Conflict within the nation resulted in the altering of many institutions, including the institutions of incarceration and renewed racism at the institutional level. The book and movie the Green Mile highlight both of these themes. Through my writing I look to see how the themes of racism and incarceration addressed in the Green Mile during the Great Depression may relate to the same themes in society today.
Released in 1999, the Green Mile was written and directed by Frank Darabont starring Tom Hanks as the main character Edgecombe and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey, an African American man imprisoned for a gruesome crime he did not commit. Paul Edgecombe is a death-row supervisor stationed at the fictional Cold Mountain penitentiary around 1932. The story centers around Edgecombe’s retelling of a critical turning point in his career. On death row, inmates arrive and await their turn for the inevitable execution they have been sentenced to. The row has been given the nickname “the Green Mile” to describe the green tiles that lead to the electric chair that symbolizes the end of their respective lives. Accused of the rape and murder of two nine year-old girls, John Coffey eventually arrives at the penitentiary. As time wears on, it becomes apparent that John Coffey would not have been able to carry out the crime he had been accused of, despite his menacing physical appearance. To seek out information for himself, Edgecombe decides to do conduct his own investigation into the circumstances of Coffey’s trial and sentence. Discovering that there is little to no concrete evidence surrounding the case, Edgecombe becomes more unsure of the morality of Coffey’s sentence. Coffey’s arrival is followed by the entrance of William Wharton, played by Sam Rockwell, a mentally insane murderer that becomes a menace to those in the prison including the guards themselves. Through a series of perceived miracles carried out by John Coffey, Edgecombe is further convinced of his inmate’s innocence. It later comes to the attention of Edgecombe that Wharton had committed the crimes that Coffey had been accused of. However, Edgecombe and his other colleagues at the prison recognize that there is no way to prove Coffey’s innocence. The book and movie highlight the themes of death, the death penalty, incarceration, and racism during the time period of the Great Depression, and relate these themes back in a narrative that seems to hold comparable metaphorical significance with the story of Jesus Christ. The theme of racial prejudice surrounds the circumstances of John Coffey’s sentence. This is displayed in a quote by the Deputy Sheriff Rob McGee. McGee was one of the men that led the search party to find the murdered girls and instrumental in the conviction of Coffey. “John Coffey is a Negro, and in Trapingus County we’re awful particular about giving new trials to Negroes…” (King) Despite recognizing Coffey’s potential innocence, the Deputy Sheriff showed no intention of pushing to give Coffey the opportunity of a retrial. This cruel indifference towards the fate of this man was likely not uncommon during this time period of great hardship. Although the time period portrayed took place decades ago, these themes are sadly still very prevalent to society today.
While the hardships and difficulties experienced during the Great Depression may vary greatly from our own present day experiences, learning about this challenging period of time may teach us certain lessons. The Great Depression was initiated by a massive stock market crash that occurred on October 24, 1929. Known as Black Thursday, panic later set in as the price of stocks began to fall at startling rates. Following the downfall of the economy, a devastating drought hit much of the Midwest. Farmers suffered in particular, resulting in widespread poverty. The paper The Great Depression by John Louis Recchiuti provides statistics that give weight to the great losses experienced by the American population. “As the effects of the Depression cascaded across the US economy, millions of people lost their jobs. By 1930 there were 4.3 million unemployed; by 1931, 8 million, and in 1932 the number had risen to 12 million. By early 1933, almost 13 million were out of work and the unemployment rate stood at an astonishing 25 percent” (Recchiuti) As a huge percentage of American citizens came out of work, a general atmosphere of despair and hopelessness overtook our great country. The hardships encountered by those that experienced the Great Depression affected the basic lifestyles of the time. These impacts of the Great Depression were widespread.
Prior to my research into this topic, I had assumed that social constructs such as racism would not be as prevalent in such a time of country wide hardship. Instead, racial prejudice took a turn for the worse during this time period of hardship, and many factors were responsible in altering the mindsets of the people that lived throughout the trials and tribulations of the Great Depression. The paper The Depths of the Great Depression by P. Scott Corbett describes the change in trends related to racial violence. “Racial violence also began to rise. In the South, lynching became more common again, with twenty-eight documented lynchings in 1933, compared to eight in 1932. Since communities were preoccupied with their own hardships, and organizing civil rights efforts was a long, difficult process, many resigned themselves to, or even ignored, this culture of racism and violence.” (Corbett) Competition and survival became common themes during this time of unrest. Tensions that arose from these situations resulted in a renewed anguish among interracial communities. The renewed rise in racial hate crimes is deliberated in the same paper. “Racial violence also began to rise. In the South, lynching became more common again, with twenty-eight documented lynchings in 1933, compared to eight in 1932. Since communities were preoccupied with their own hardships, and organizing civil rights efforts was a long, difficult process, many resigned themselves to, or even ignored, this culture of racism and violence.” (Corbett) The Great Depression not only brought with it times of despair, but in this despair many resorted to acts of violence in what they believed was a conflict for their very livelihoods. As jobs became scarce nationwide in all fields, people took positions without previous conceptions of who should take those jobs. Competition increased to startling levels, and citizens sought labor wherever they could find. The effect on the African American population is further explained in the paper. “In cities, African Americans fared no better. Unemployment was rampant, and many whites felt that any available jobs belonged to whites first. In some Northern cities, whites would conspire to have African American workers fired to allow white workers access to their jobs. Even jobs traditionally held by black workers, such as household servants or janitors, were now going to whites.” (Corbett) With nearly half of all African Americans becoming unemployed, a new sort of discrimination took place in the United States unfairly displacing an entire demographic of people.
Racism has not disappeared, rather it has been altered into new forms. In the paper The State, Racism, and Domination in Contemporary Capitalist Societies by Francis Adu-Febiri, several theories surrounding subversive institutional racism are identified. “As recognized by Gressnberg (1980), state power and apparatuses play important part in the creation, elaboration and transformation of racial/ethnic domination in society. The State, through political repression, racialized policies in the areas of marriage, employment, housing/residence, education, sports, etc., and through ideological propaganda, gives substance to “popular racism”, that is, racial prejudice and attitudes at the individual and group levels.” (Adu-Febiri) These attitudes of racially charged discrimination within our country continue to affect societal groups. Racism however inadvertently it may or may not occur still leads to negative effects on self concept, health, and well-being, and even a staggering in wages paid. Even after the first ever African American president in Barack Obama, subtle prejudices still affect us and the people around us.
The Great Depression was a time of hardship for all. In the passage The Effect of the Depression on Prison Commitments and Sentences by Leon Thomas Stern, the author addresses how the Great Depression affected prison institutions of the time, the overall attitude around incarceration itself, and how these factors may have set the precedent for modern day institutions. “When the labor supply is scarce and labor therefore is at a premium, penal treatment tends to be humane, but when the labor market is glutted and chronic unemployment develops, penal treatment becomes brutal. Reusche assumes that crime is a class and that the upper classes, who have the political power, utilize the law as a means of repressing the criminality of the worker. When times are good and the temptation to crime is light, there is less need for force; but when the unemployed are tempted to exchange freedom for good humane treatment in penal and correctional institutions, these institutions must be made forbidding and penalties in general more severe in order to counterbalance the temptations to crime on the part of the underprivileged masses” (Stern) The writer elaborates on a theory reflecting upon the relationship of incarceration and current economic standing while later explaining that the theory has never truly been tested. According to the theory, the general well-being of a population affects the overall demeanor and attitude of the same population. Actions taken by the citizens may or may not translate into criminal activity based upon what the citizens feel like they must do in order to survive. Stern quotes two authors, one German and one Polish that lay out this relationship in explicit detail. The theory explicitly states that “severity of sentence increases during an economic crisis and that judges and correctional authorities are responsible therefore on the ground that severity will serve as a deterrent and a warning to those who may be tempted to engage in wrongdoing in order to obtain income or means of subsistence…” (Stern) I believe in the idea behind this theory. I believe that humans will work off of survival instinct if and when they are placed in a dire situation. We are a species driven to survive, and many of us would go to great lengths to ensure that we accomplish that goal. Times of crisis, in particular the Great Depression, no doubt drove many people to carry out malignant deeds in their great desperation. Hardship likely drove citizens to a point of desperation. Many people likely resorted to activities they would otherwise never think of for the sake of survival.
The rise of mass incarceration has presented its own issues in today’s society. Prison institutions now accommodate for more prisoners than ever before. In the passage The Prison in Society: Values and Principles taken out of the book The Growth of Incarceration in the United States by Jeremy Travis, the writer discusses the cause and effects of high incarceration rates in our country. “The transformation of U.S. punishment policy during the rise in incarceration reflected not just changes in society, but also a change in thinking. The country experienced a tumultuous period of economic and political change, rapidly rising crime rates, and changing race relations.” (Travis) Policy makers and enforcers have recently switched focus from a mentality of rehabilitation to a mentality of retribution as the main goal of incarceration. A central idea to justice and penalty is that the punishment should justify the crime. However, the author further explains that there has been a recent disproportionality in the resulting sentences of crimes. “The gains in justice, rationality, and cost-effectiveness that proportionality ideas fostered ultimately proved short-lived. The core ideas about justice fostered ultimately proved short-lived. The core ideas about justice and equal treatment that motivated support for proportionality were eroded by the adoption of mandatory sentences, three-strikes laws, and other measures that readily imposed incarceration. Such laws often disconnected the severity of punishments from the seriousness of crimes. Low-level drug crimes often were punished as serious acts of violence. Under three strike laws, some misdemeanors and minor property felonies were punished as severely as homicides, rapes, and robberies.” (Travis) As society continues to evolve, ideas of fairness and the standard of human welfare changes as well. Recent changes in policy have resulted in the current surge in mass incarceration, calling into question our current understanding of justice and governance among ourselves.
The institution of capital punishment and how it is inflicted has been a topic that has always peaked my interest. People have always had a fascination with the contrasting themes of life and death, and as such are drawn to events that highlight either. In the preceding essay I explored how themes portrayed in the book and movie the Green Mile, a depiction of a prison story taking place during the Great Depression, reflected similar themes of racism and incarceration in today’s society. History serves to teach us positive lessons while also giving caution to not repeat the offenses of the past. We must learn from hardships such as the Great Depression and use those events as a guide toward the achievement of an even better society.
Works Cited
1. Adu-Febiri, Francis. “The State, Racism and Domination in Contemporary Capitalist Societies.” Berkeley Journal of Sociology, vol. 38, 1993, pp. 193–219. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41035471.
2. Burrell, Kristopher, and Hostos Community College. “United States History: Reconstruction to the Present.” Lumen, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-hostos-ushistory/chapter/the-depths-of-the-great-depression/.
3. “Examples of Discrimination in Society Today.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/individuals-and-society/discrimination/a/examples-of-discrimination-in-society-today.
4. “Great Depression.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 21 Aug. 2018, https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression.
5. “Incarceration & Social Inequality.” American Academy of Arts & Sciences, https://www.amacad.org/publication/incarceration-social-inequality.
6. “Inmate Society in the Era of Mass Incarceration.” Annual Reviews, https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-criminol-032317-092513.
7. King, Stephen. The Green Mile. Bastei-Verl. Lübbe, 1996.
8. Nesoff, Jeremy. “The Myth of a Post-Racial Society After the Obama Presidency.” Facing Today — A Facing History Blog, https://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/the-myth-of-a-post-racial-society-after-the-obama-presidency.
9. “Read ‘The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences’ at NAP.edu.” National Academies Press: OpenBook, https://www.nap.edu/read/18613/chapter/14.
10. Stern, Leon Thomas. “The Effect of the Depression on Prison Commitments and Sentences.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931–1951), vol. 31, no. 6, 1941, pp. 696–711. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1137115.
11. “The Great Depression.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/great-depression/a/the-great-depression.
12. “Why Mass Incarceration Defines Us As a Society.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Dec. 2012, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/why-mass-incarceration-defines-us-as-a-society-135793245/.