The Green Mile

“‘I couldn’t help it, boss,’ he said. ‘I tried to take it back, but it was too late.’” 

At the moment of Coffey’s capture, he utters the two statements above, which Deputy Sheriff McGee regards as an admission to murdering the Detterick twins. Later, Paul discovers that Coffey’s refrain of “helped” refers to his healing abilities. Paul realizes that Coffey’s initial statements were his lamentation over his inability to save the young girls and not a confession to their murder. The phrase “it was too late” refers to the time-sensitive nature of Coffey’s gift, as he can save someone’s life only if they have not already fully expired.

“‘Getting the talk started’ was at the center of our job, really. I didn’t know it then, but looking back from the vantage point of this strange old age (I think all old ages seem strange to the folk who must endure them), I understand that it was, and why I didn’t see it then—it was too big, as central to our work as our respiration was to our lives.”  

“Getting the talk started” refers to the guards’ duty to verbally engage with the inmates awaiting their death sentences. The responsibility to talk to the inmates is not a requisite part of the job, but an informal duty that ensures that inmates maintain a sense of mental stability as they await their deaths. While it is a service to the condemned men, Paul’s remark about the centrality of the work as “respiration” suggests that the guards need the talk as much as the inmates do.