The Green Mile

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The Green Mile
Cover of the first volume in the series, released March 28, 1996
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	Signet Books
Published	March 28, 1996
Media type	Print (Paperback)

The Green Mile is a 1996 serial novel written by Stephen King. Published in six volumes, it was crafted while the book was already in production.^{[citation needed]} It focuses on the encounter a death row supervisor, Paul Edgecombe, has with an unusual inmate, John Coffey, who displays unexplainable healing and empathetic abilities. The novel was originally published in serial form before being republished as a single volume work.

Plot

A first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, the novel switches between Paul as an old man in a nursing home sharing his story with fellow resident Elaine Connelly, and his time in 1932 as the block supervisor of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary death row, nicknamed "The Green Mile". In this year, a new inmate arrives named John Coffey, a 6'8" black man who has been convicted of raping and murdering two small white girls. Besides John, there are two other prisoners on the cellblock during the main period the book focuses on: Eduard "Del" Delacroix, a Cajun arsonist and murderer, and William "Wild Bill" Wharton, a wild-acting and dangerous multiple murderer who is determined to make as much trouble as he can before he is executed. Other inhabitants of the Green Mile include Arlen Bitterbuck, a Native American convicted of killing a man outside a bar, Arthur Flanders, an insurance executive who killed his father to perpetrate insurance fraud, and Mr. Jingles, a mouse, whom Del teaches various tricks.

Paul and the other guards are antagonized throughout the book by Percy Wetmore, a sadistic guard who enjoys aggravating the prisoners. 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 refuses to leave until he is allowed to supervise an execution, so Paul hesitantly allows him to run Del's. Percy deliberately avoids soaking the sponge in brine that is supposed to be tucked inside the electrode cap to ensure a faster death. 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 John Coffey possesses inexplicable healing abilities. These powers heal Paul's urinary tract infection and revives Mr. Jingles after Percy kills him by stepping on him. John is very empathic and sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others around him. One night, the guards drug William Wharton, then put a straitjacket on Percy and lock him in the padded restraint room so that they can smuggle John out of the prison and take him to the home of Warden Hal Moores. Hal's wife has a deadly brain tumor, which John cures. When they return to the Mile, John passes the "disease" which he took out of the warden's wife onto Percy, causing him to go mad and shoot Wild Bill to death before falling into a catatonic state from which he never recovers. Percy is committed to Briar Ridge.

John shows Paul that it was Wild Bill who committed the murders, not himself. Paul is unsure how to help John, but John tells him not to worry, as he is ready to die anyway, wanting to escape the cruelty of the world. Those healed by John gain an unnatural lifespan. In the end, Mr. Jingles lives to be at least 64 and dies of old age at Paul's nursing home, while Paul is now 104 years old and wondering how much longer he will live.

Publication history

The Green Mile was first published in six, low-priced paperback volumes. The first, subtitled The Two Dead Girls was published on March 28, 1996, with new volumes following monthly until the final volume, John on the Mile was released August 29, 1996. The novel was republished as a single paperback volume on May 5, 1997. On October 3, 2000, the book was published in its first hardcover edition.

Volume list

Reception

The novel won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel in 1996.^[1]

Forbes commentator Dawn Mendez referred to the character of John Coffey as a "'magic Negro' figure"—a term coined by Spike Lee to describe a stereotypical fictional black person depicted in a fictional work as a "saintly, nonthreatening" person whose purpose in life is to solve a problem for or otherwise further the happiness of a white person.^[2] Lee himself, in referring to the film adaptation, berated the character as one of several "super-duper, magical Negro[es]" depicting a skewed version of the black male, claiming it was due to the prominence of white decision makers in the media companies.^[3]

Film adaptation

Frank Darabont adapted the novel into a screenplay for a feature film of the same name. Released in 1999, the film was directed by Darabont and starred Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey.

References

1. ^ "Past Stoker Nominees & Winners: 1996 Bram Stoker Award Nominees & Winners". Horror Writers Association. http://www.horror.org/stokerwinnom.htm#1996. Retrieved October 26, 2009. 
2. ^ Mendez, Dawn (January 23, 2009). "The 'Magic Negro'". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/23/obama-magic-negro-oped-cx_dm_0123mendez.html. Retrieved October 26, 2009. 
3. ^ "Lee Takes Issue With Depiction of Minorities in Film". San Jose Mercury News: p. 2E. February 7, 2001.