The Green Mile (novel)
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| The Green Mile | |
 Cover of the first volume in the series, released March 28, 1996 |
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| Author | Stephen King |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Signet Books |
| Publication date | March 28, 1996 |
| Media type | print (paperback) |
| Pages | 400 (total) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0140258566 (Vol. 1) ISBN 0451190521 (Vol. 2) ISBN 0451190548 (Vol. 3) ISBN 0451190556 (Vol. 4) ISBN 0140258604 (Vol. 5) ISBN 0451190572 (Vol. 6) |
The Green Mile is a 1996 serial novel written by Stephen King. More or less as a challenge, Stephen King published this story as a serial in six parts. Just as in Charles Dickens' time, the story was crafted while the book was already in production. In keeping with the serial concept, the first edition consists of six thin, low-priced paperbacks.
Since it first appeared, The Green Mile has been republished as a single volume. The first edition contains a section where the narrator speaks directly to the reader; the later edition contains an additional foreword. The novel was left otherwise untouched, though King did change one passage where a character in a straitjacket wipes his brow (a mistake that initially slipped past both him and his editor). The novel won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel in 1996.
The novel was adapted by Frank Darabont for the screenplay of a feature film of the same name in 1999, directed by Darabont, starring Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey.
Volumes
- Volume 1: The Two Dead Girls (released March 28, 1996; ISBN 0140258566)
- Volume 2: The Mouse on the Mile (released April 25, 1996; ISBN 0451190521)
- Volume 3: Coffey's Hands (released May 30, 1996; ISBN 0451190548)
- Volume 4: The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix (released June 27, 1996; ISBN 0451190556)
- Volume 5: Night Journey July 25, 1996; ISBN 0140258604)
- Volume 6: Coffey on the Mile (released August 29, 1996; ISBN 0451190572)
Plot summary
The book is a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, who worked on as a Cold Mountain Penitentiary block supervisor on death row, nicknamed "The Green Mile", in 1932. It switches between the events that occurred there, and Paul in the "present" as an old man in a nursing home writing the story, and his "special friend" Elaine Connelly reading it.
The story centers on John Coffey, a 6'8" black man who is convicted of raping and murdering two small white girls. He is notable because of his size and strange behavior. Besides Coffey, there are two other prisoners on the cellblock during the main period the book focuses on: Eduard Delacroix, a Cajun arsonist and murderer who is cowardly and weak-minded, and William Wharton, a wild and dangerous multiple murderer who is determined to make as much trouble as he can before he is executed. Looking back, Paul also describes his experiences with a Washita Cherokee murderer named Arlen Bitterbuck, nicknamed "The Chief", and Arthur Flanders, nicknamed "The President", an insurance executive who killed his father to perpetrate insurance fraud. The story also features Mr. Jingles, an unnaturally intelligent mouse who appears early in the novel and befriends Del. The mouse learns various tricks and appears to follow commands. Del insists that the mouse whispers things in his ear.
Paul and the other guards are antagonized throughout the book by Percy Wetmore, a sadistic guard who enjoys aggravating the prisoners and tries to kill Mr. Jingles on more than one occasion. The other guards have to be civil to him despite their dislike of him because he is the governor's nephew. However, when he is offered a place at the nearby Briar Ridge psychiatric hospital as a secretary, Paul thinks they are finally rid of him. However, Percy informs Paul and his colleagues that he will not leave until he is "put up front" (allowed to supervise an execution), so Paul hesitantly allows him to run Delacroix's. Percy is supposed to soak a sponge in brine and tuck it inside the electrode cap to be strapped onto Del's head (to draw the electricity to the brain to kill faster and with less pain), but his resentment of the man leads him to omit this step. As a result, when the switch is thrown, the electric current causes Del to suffer an agonizing death and literally fry in the chair.
Over time, Paul realizes that there is something special about John Coffey: he possesses mystical healing abilities. These powers heal Paul's urinary tract infection and brings Mr. Jingles from the brink of death after Percy attempts to kill him by stepping on him. Paul also realizes that Coffey is very empathic and sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others around him and all over the world. The guards drug William Wharton, put a straitjacket on "Pee Pants" Percy, and lock him in the padded restraint room. They then smuggle John out of the prison and take him to Warden Hal Moores' residence, where he cures his wife's deadly brain tumor with his magical abilities. When they return to the Mile, Percy is released from the restraint room and agrees to move to the Briar Ridge secretarial job straightaway. However, as he is leaving, John passes the "disease" which he took out of the warden's wife onto Percy. Percy goes mad and shoots Wharton to death, then falls into a catatonic state from which he never recovers. He is later transferred to Briar Ridge, but as a patient rather than a secretary.
Although Paul eventually discovers that John was innocent of the murders (which were actually the work of William Wharton), John elects to die anyway to escape the cruelty of the world. Near the end of the book, it is revealed that those healed by John gain an unnatural lifespan. In the end, Mr. Jingles lives to be 64 and dies of old age at Paul's nursing home and Paul reveals to the reader how his wife died. Paul also states that he is 104 years old and wondering just how much longer he will live. The book ends with this quote:
- "We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long."
References
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