Capital Punishment: A Hanging and The Green Mile
When I read “A Hanging” by George Orwell, a strong, compelling short story, happening in a prison in Burma, and the man on the verge of capital punishment with the protagonist being a policeman, observing the execution, I couldn’t help but notice the uncanny resemblance it shared with the movie “The Green Mile (1999)” based on a novel with the same name by Stephen King.
The authors of both stories seem to share a good deal of ideologies on where they stand when it comes to the concept of capital punishment, and what struck me the most was their approach in criticizing the matter. It happens by creating a dismal atmosphere governing the story and making the audience familiar with the internal life of the protagonist and observing the happenings through their eyes, in order to depict the true intentions of the author in a smooth and subtle way. There may be no line or scene in “A hanging” that directly exhibits the writer’s disapproval towards the actions taking place, But the multiple use of phrases such as “desolately thin in the wet air”, “A sodden morning of the rains” or “condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages” is enough for us to understand that the narrator is not unaffected by the execution
Although we sympathize with both the prison guard taking care of the procedure, and the condemned himself in both stories in almost the same way, the green mile has the advantage of a long novel and is able to show different attitudes towards the act of execution on the either ends of the gun.
The heavy burden on the shoulders of the prison guard and the internal struggles due to the disagreement on the notion of capital punishment and yet being obligated to proceed, followed by the feeling of impotence, can be seen in both protagonists. In The green mile we also have the contrasting ideas at work, like Percy the guard who is more than willing to act accordingly. And is detested by almost all his fellow colleagues. This shows the strong opposition of decent men towards something that a furious, senseless man supports. This contrast is also seen regarding the prisoners, waiting their time to come, some like John Coffey, the hulking black man full of innocence or his counterpart the Hindu man in “A hanging”, seem to accept their fate with a calm, enlightened attitude while Wild Bill gets even nastier than he was before, disrespecting other prisoners and the guards which leads to his even earlier death when he crosses the line insulting Percy.
The animal characters play significant roles. Mr. Jingles, a mouse in “The Green Mile” and the dog in the prison yard in “A Hanging” are elements used, to create sympathetic relationship with the condemned, and suggest the moral contrast between animals and the prison guards. While the Hindu man is walking towards the scaffold, the dog escapes the guards and tries to lick his face, and after the execution is done, again the dog is the only one showing a somewhat sympathetic reaction. Mr. Jingles, Edward’s best friend and only concern in the final days of his life, shares one or two moments with other prisoners and guards too, and we see in the ending of the movie that Edgecombe sheltered the mouse in a garden shed after his retirement. Percy, the despicable guard and the guards in the yard in the other story are the only ones showing violence towards both animals. Percy, by stepping on the mouse deliberately, and the dog being called “a bloody brute” angrily and being stoned away by the them, again indicates the characters’ stance on the matter of execution.
Capital punishment has been the controversial matter of discussion for many years. The offensive, inhumane act of taking away someone else’s life as the compensation for his crimes. In our own country the reported executions are approx. 400 lives a year which is a great percentage of the whole population. Even China being in lead for the most executions per year, has a lower ratio. Ironically our religion is based on the notion of otherworldly and divine justice and yet it professes capital punishment more than any other nation in the world, with the next one being Saudi Arabia, not only as a retribution for murder but other crimes like treason, types of fraud, adultery and rape. The use of this practice is decreasing every year in the world and According to Amnesty International as at May 2012, 141 countries have abolished the death penalty either in law on in practice. We keep our fingers crossed to see a more civil future for our country and for the authorities to fully comprehend “the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide.”
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