Summary of the novel “The Green Mile”

Any summary of Stephen King’s novel “The Green Mile” has to include a bit about the famous horror novelist. He published this novel in 1996 as a serial novel, and the first edition came out in six small paperbacks, which were later made into a single novel. King is best known for his horror novels, so as this summary of “The Green Mile” novel shows, this book, set in the 1930s, is a departure from some of King’s other works. .

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The summary of the novel “The Green Mile” includes the plot and setting. The story takes place in 1932 in Block E (Death Row) at Cold Mountain Penitentiary in Georgia. It is narrated by the main character, Paul, who is the captain of the prison guards who presides over Block E. “The Green Mile” of the title is the corridor between the cells in the cell block that leads to the execution room. The corridor is covered in green linoleum, hence the “last” or green mile that inmates walk to their deaths.

The story follows John Coffey, a large black inmate convicted of raping and murdering two young white women, and the other two inmates on death row, along with the guards who watch over them. Coffey is special, as Paul discovers, and has magical healing abilities that become apparent. He befriends a little white mouse, whom he calls Mr. Jingles, and heals the mouse when brutal guard Percy Wetmore tried to kill him. He also cures Paul’s kidney infection, and later Paul breaks him out of prison to cure the warden’s wife’s brain tumor. Coffey “transfers” this brain disease to Wetmore, the sadistic guard who is disliked by the inmates and staff. Wetmore never recovers and spends the rest of his life in a mental institution.

Eventually, Paul discovers that Coffey is exceptional in many areas. It turns out that he did not murder the two girls, another inmate (William Wharton) did. Coffey doesn’t want to be forgiven and dies in the electric chair because he can’t stand the cruelties of real life. After his death, Paul discovers that each of the people Coffey has healed lives extraordinarily long lives. Paul is 108 years old at the end of the book and Mr. Jingles is 64. They have no idea how long they will live and the novel ends.

characters

A summary of the novel “The Green Mile” includes the characters in the novel.

Paul Edgecombe – Paul is the main character of the novel. A prison guard, at the end of the story is an old man who narrates this part of his life to a friend who is writing his memoir.

John Coffey – A nearly 7-foot-tall black man, a convicted murderer awaiting his death sentence on prison death row. He befriends a white mouse and cures people of his diseases.

Percy Wetmore – A sadistic prison guard whom no one likes. He torments the prisoners, attempts to kill Mr. Jingles the mouse, and deliberately botches an execution in which the prisoner suffers terribly. He keeps his job because he is related to the governor.

Eduard Delacroix – A Cajun man convicted of arson, he is essentially a coward. He is the man who dies a horrible death at the hands of Wetmore.

William Wharton – Another convict, it turns out that he is the one who actually committed the murder attributed to John Coffey. He is wild and scary, and tries to disrupt the prison as much as he can before he dies.

Mr. Jingles – The white mouse who lives to be 64 years old and befriends John Coffey.

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