The Green Mile (novel)

Did You Know?

• The film adaptation changed the setting from 1932 to 1935 to include the film Top Hat.
• The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Michael Clarke Duncan.
• In 2003 the book was listed on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's best-loved novels.

Plot

The novel is a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, switching between his present as an old man in a nursing home in 1996 and his time in 1932 as block supervisor of Cold Mountain Penitentiary's death row, called the Green Mile for its green linoleum floor. That year, John Coffey, a 6 ft 8 in black man convicted of raping and murdering two young white girls, arrives. Other inmates include Eduard Delacroix, a Cajun arsonist and murderer; William Wharton, a dangerous multiple murderer; Arlen Bitterbuck, a Native American who killed over boots; and Arthur Flanders, who murdered his father for insurance fraud.

A mouse named Mr. Jingles, taught tricks by Del, also appears. The guards are irritated by Percy Wetmore, a sadistic guard and nephew of the governor's wife. When Percy is offered a job at Briar Ridge psychiatric hospital, he refuses to leave until allowed to supervise an execution. Paul reluctantly lets him run Del's execution, but Percy deliberately avoids soaking the sponge in brine, causing Del to catch fire and die agonizingly.

Characters

Paul Edgecombe, the protagonist and narrator, is the death row supervisor at Cold Mountain Penitentiary, aged 40 in 1932. He is caring and keeps peace on the block. He discovers John Coffey's abilities when Coffey cures his urinary tract infection, and later takes Coffey to cure Warden Hal Moores' wife of a brain tumor. After Coffey's execution, Paul transfers to Boy's Correctional with Brutus Howell and is still alive at age 104 in 1996, writing Coffey's story.

Brutus 'Brutal' Howell is second in command and Paul's best friend, a tall, imposing but calm man. A former LSU football player, he dies of a heart attack in his late fifties about twenty-five years after Coffey's execution. John Coffey is a massive African American (6 ft 8 in) convicted of raping and murdering two girls. He is quiet, weeps constantly, fears the dark, and lacks basic skills.

Despite his size, he is the calmest prisoner the guards have seen. He is innocent but allows execution because he is tired of the world's cruelty. Percy Wetmore is a sadistic guard who antagonizes prisoners and is protected by his aunt, the governor's wife.

Publication history

The Green Mile was first published in six paperback volumes, starting with The Two Dead Girls on March 28, 1996, and ending with Coffey on the Mile on August 29, 1996. It was republished as a single paperback volume on May 5, 1997, and first in hardcover on October 3, 2000. In 2007, Subterranean Press released a 10th anniversary edition in three versions: a Gift Edition (2,000 copies, six unsigned hardcover volumes in a slipcase for $150), a Limited Edition (148 numbered copies signed by King, in a slipcase for $900), and a Lettered Edition (52 lettered copies signed by King, in a traycase for $2,500).

Each had new illustrations by Mark Geyer. Other versions include a pocketbook-sized hardcover by Paw Prints. King learned of serialized publication from Ralph Vicinanza, who discussed it with British publisher Malcolm Edwards, noting Charles Dickens' practice. After struggling to write the novel, Vicinanza pitched the installment idea to King, who liked the writer's responsibility and the suspense for readers.