An Analysis of the Characters of John Coffey and Paul Edgecomb in the Novel, The Green Mile by Stephen King Essay

The Green Mile focuses on two main characters John Coffey, a 6' 8" black man convicted of the rape and murder of nine-year-old twins, and the narrator Paul Edgecomb, a death row prison guard at the state penitentiary on Cold Mountain in 1932. Though Paul has presided over 78 executions, he begins to think John is innocent. John seems too gentle to have committed such a horrible crime. He also has a great healing gift why would God give a life-giving gift to someone who would kill? The evidence, however, is clearly against John. The search party looking for the missing twins finds him covered with blood holding the two dead girls. The worst evidence is what seems to be an oral confession when John says, "I tried to take it back but it was too late." The jury thinks this means he raped and murdered the girls, and is sorry he can't bring them back. But Paul recognizes John's magnificent ability when he saves a dying mouse and heals Paul's own health problem. Paul gets John out of prison to save the warden's wife, who is very ill. When he returns, John grabs a prison guard and with his special powers gives him a brain tumor. This makes the guard kill an inmate who John always said was the devil. This prompts Paul to look further into John's case and, with the help of the sheriff, find new evidence. At the beginning I believed without a doubt that John Coffey was the murderer. King does a wonderful job presenting facts to make the reader question who really killed the twins. King proves how easy it is to make assumptions without having all the facts, and shows how one piece of evidence can change everything. I highly recommend The Green Mile to those who like reading about the death penalty and mysteries in general. King does a masterful job creating...

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