 As punishment for his escape , he is forced to repeatedly dig a grave @-@ sized hole in the prison camp yard , fill it back in , then be beaten . The prisoners observe his persecution , singing spirituals . Finally , as the other prisoners watch from the windows of the bunkhouse , an exhausted Luke collapses in the hole , begging God for mercy and pleads with the bosses not to hit him again . Believing Luke is finally broken , the Captain stops the punishment . Boss Paul warns Luke that he will be killed if ever he runs away again , which Luke promises in tears not to do . The prisoners begin to lose their idealized image of Luke , and one tears up the photograph of Luke with the women . 
