Posted by4 years ago
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I'm re-reading The Green Mile, alongside my son who's doing it for A.R. (Accelerated Reader) for school. They just basically have to read on their own, books of a certain length and reading level. SPOILERS FOLLOW.
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Paul Edgecombe. The narrator and protagonist of The Green Mile. As the supervisor of E block, Paul takes his job very seriously, believing that all prisoners should be treated with compassion and respect so that their (read full character analysis). The Green Mile is told in a 1st person point of view, with an older Paul Edgecombe looking back and writing about his life. It changes time periods though as different things happen.
So, I had read it for fun before, but now I'm reading it to help him prep for a test, and the Christ Metaphor just overwhelms. Not saying I don't enjoy it, just not sure what I think of it in a big picture context.
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- John Coffey = J. C. This one's so obvious, King acknowledges it in the Foreword.
- The healing miracles, to the point of bringing Mr. Jingles back from the dead.
- The unjust accusation.
- The two prisoners on the mile with Coffey. One (DelaCROIX, dontcha know) witnesses his miracle and is in awe of it. Not promised salvation, though, in fact Paul is confident that he will be in hell.
- Much of Coffey's dialogue about love, and souls.
- Coffey's friends deny him and allow him to be executed.
- Those characters 'saved' by Coffey get incredible (albeit not eternal) life.
So, have I missed any, overt or subtle linkages? What do you all think of symbolism like this, does it add to your experience? Or detract from it?
4 comments
Janice Edgecombe was Paul's wife. She died in a bus accident, setting up the character of Elaine Connelly, who Paul met at the retirement center in his later years. Eduard Delacroix was a tiny, timid Frenchman sentenced to die in 'old sparky's'; lap. He was the owner of the mouse named Mr. Jingles and he was used through his execution to portray Percy's evil nature and to set up the death scene for John Coffey. William (Billy the Kid) Warton was a sadistic man who was sentenced to death at Cold Mountain also. He was the only person that Percy Wetmore was afraid of. William intimidated Percy just as Percy intimidated everyone else. It becomes later known that William was the one who committed the crime for which Coffey was being executed. Brad Dolan worked at Georgia Pines. He acted just like Percy once did and that scared Paul in his elderly years. Brad was cruel, heartless, and thrived on the pain of others.Setting: Cold Mountain Penitentiary, particularly E block during the early 1930s. During the depression this was just about the only job the guards had to choose from. Paul writes this story from his room in the Georgia Pines Retirement Center.Point of view: When describing events of E block Paul uses first person omniscient, while his life in the retirement center is told in first person limited.Tone: Sympathy for Paul Edgecombe, sadness and remorse for John Coffey.Irony: John Coffey, a healer, is executed for the murder of