The Green Mile

John Coffey is a stand-in for Jesus Christ throughout The Green Mile. In the same way that Christ sacrifices his life for mankind’s sins, Coffey’s death signifies the need for atonement from people who have benefitted from his gift and forgiveness. Just as Christ could heal the sick, Coffey could treat the ailments of both humans and animals at the expense of his own health. Each cure takes a toll on Coffey’s wellbeing as he takes in humanity’s cruelty with his breath and passes it through his body. He frequently cries over his inability to heal the Detterick twins, and the burden of their deaths hang over his head.

When the bloodhounds find Coffey holding the Detterick girls, one in each arm, Deputy Sheriff McGee remarks that the scene seems like a religious tableau, where Coffey functions as the Christ-like figure. He appears as Christ again in Melinda’s dream when he heals her of her brain tumor. She remarks, “We found each other” (411). The statement bears similarity to the ways in which nonbelievers describe having found God. After being cured, Melinda finds her faith again in Coffey as a stand-in for Christ. Later, Paul dreams of Coffey on a cross, flanked by Percy and Delacroix. It foretells Coffey’s death sentence as a crucifixion by the state in which Coffey is complicit. Just as Christ had died through state persecution, so does Coffey die by the hands of the state. 

After Coffey heals Melinda Moores of her brain tumor, she gifts him a St. Christopher medallion he wears until the moment of his execution. There is a powerful similarity between Coffey and St. Christopher. St. Christopher is a martyr whose devotion to God led to his eventual death. In his life, St. Christopher was tested by God in the form of a young child who asked to ride Christopher’s back across a river. The child’s weight—a representation of the weight of devotion—nearly sunk St. Christopher. Similarly, Coffey’s gift of healing represents such a burden as it requires him to take on the harms of those around him. Just as St. Christopher gives his life to prove his loyalty to God, Coffey dies a martyr for all the cruelty enacted by humanity. The gift of the St. Christopher medallion represents Coffey’s labor, but also foreshadows his eventual death as a martyr. 

After Coffey successfully heals Melinda Moores, Paul has a nightmare on the drive back to Cold Mountain. The nightmare depicts Delacroix, Percy, and Coffey on crosses with Paul wielding a hammer. In this dream, the holy number 3 is significant, as it represents the quantity of deaths necessary to assure natural balance in the world after Delacroix’s bad death. Thus, the divine powers require the past death of Delacroix, present passing of Percy, and future execution of Coffey to complete the natural order. In this sense, the bodies on crosses also refer to biblical sacrifice.

In the nightmare, Paul’s hammer suggests that he feels responsible for their deaths but also that he has the power to save them, just as the hammer can both drive in a nail and remove it. However, with the absence of a stepladder, he is unable to rescue any of the men in his nightmare, leaving him with just the burden of his guilt.