Short Fiction · Chapter
Chapter XV explained
Sam Cardinella is hanged at six in the morning in the county jail corridor.
What happens
Sam Cardinella is hanged at six in the morning in the county jail corridor. Prisoners fill the cells, and five men are sentenced to death. Sam loses control of his body as the guards and priests prepare him, and he is left sitting strapped in a chair before the drop falls.
Themes in this chapter
The Absurdity of Authority and Religion
The priests' exhortation to 'be a man' and the clinical, mechanical process of the hanging highlight the absurdity and dehumanization inherent in institutional authority and religious ritual.
Characters to notice
- Sam Cardinella
The condemned man who is hanged; he loses control of his sphincter muscles and is left sitting strapped in a chair.
Key passages
“They hanged Sam Cardinella at six o’clock in the morning in the corridor of the county jail.”
Sam Cardinella was executed by hanging at dawn in the jail corridor.
Establishes the time, place, and method of execution.
“While they were strapping his legs together two guards held him up and the two priests were whispering to him. “Be a man, my son,” said one priest.”
As guards bound his legs, two priests urged him to show courage.
Highlights the religious and social pressure to maintain composure in the face of death.
“Sam Cardinella lost control of his sphincter muscles. The guards who had been holding him up dropped him. They were both disgusted.”
Sam's body failed him, and the guards, repulsed, let him fall.
Emphasizes the loss of dignity and the visceral reality of the execution.
“Sam Cardinella was left sitting there strapped tight with the rope around his neck, the younger of the two priests kneeling beside the chair holding up a little crucifix.”
Sam remained in the chair, bound and noosed, while a priest knelt with a crucifix.
Depicts the final, stark image before the execution is carried out.