The Green Mile by Stephen King (Emily)

 THE GREEN MILE, by Emily Kreuger, 2IGCSE2

THE GREEN MILE, by Emily Kreuger, 2IGCSE2

The Green Mile was written by Stephen King, a world-famous horror author, and published in 1996. This novel tells the story of Paul Edgecombe, a death-row supervisor, and his encounter with a new inmate. Throughout the book, the author slowly reveals that this inmate, John Coffey, has supernatural powers. This prompts Paul Edgecombe to discover the truth about the prisoner's incarceration. The book received two awards: the Bram Stoker Award for Novel in 1996 and the German Fantastic Prize for Best International Author in 2001. It was also adapted into a film in 1999 by Frank Darabont. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

First of all, my favorite character in the book was of course Mr.Jingles: a curious mouse that happened to be living on the prison block. Mr. Jingles, also known as Steamboat Willy, was important to the plot because, without him, the other prison guards would have never discovered John Coffey’s special healing powers. I also found him to be quite mysterious in the way he would act. He was well-trained, knew a decent amount of tricks, and had somewhat polite manners that were all too human and no one knew where he had come from. Also, no matter how hard they tried, the prison guards, in particular Percy Wetmore, could never find where he slept or hid. I feel that the mouse emphasized how lonely it is on the prison block and that in some ways, he was meant to be a sort of comforting presence.

 

I also found the historical context to be written quite well. The story takes place in 1932, when the Great Depression was in full swing. The author demonstrated this by making it clear that the prison guards’ jobs were the only thing keeping them from poverty. For example, they didn't include Dean in their end of story coup because if they were caught, they didn't want him to suffer the consequences as he has 3 children to raise. This time period is also known for its obvious racism which King did well to depict. For example, John Coffey is sometimes treated as inferior and insulted by the other characters because he’s black. The color of his skin also had an impact on his trial and prevented him from getting his case reopened.

Another part that intrigued me was the lack of contrast between ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Eduard Delacroix was convicted for the rape and murder of a girl, but in the story, he is portrayed as a sensitive and empathetic human being that seems essentially harmless. He is the opposite of Percy Wetmore, who hasn’t done anything worth being put in jail for, yet he is still a terrible person to the people around him. King sends the message that a person can do awful things but still be a good person and that a terrible person can be considered good in the eyes of the law. He demonstrates that there is no black-and-white, everything is all about perspective.

I give the book a 4 out of 5 and recommend it to any readers who enjoy horror and mystery with a supernatural twist. Do you think you can figure out who the actual killer is before it is revealed?