So what do we do when things come to an end? We may cry, we may beg for its return and we may wish it a wholesome goodbye but most importatnly, we miss it. And we miss it a lot. Like this blog, this book, Wetmore's sanity and job, John Coffey's life comes to an end. But before it does, what happens before that?
On the way back to the prison, John Coffey was growing weak from the warden's wife's brain tumor. The guards all thought that even though his execution was coming soon, he would die soon.
When they walked back onto the Green Mile Dean, who stayed behind to keep watch, was relieved to see them but Percy wasn't. When they finally let him out of the retraint room and straight jacket like a wild animal, he took his baton and his gun, walked about halfway down the Mile, stopped at Wharton's cell, and "emptied six shots into the sleeping man." Percy cracked. And that was the last of his days at the Mile or as a sane man.
Some time after the comotion about Percy was settled, Edgecomb invited the guards abck over again and all of them including Edgecomb's wife discussed the matter of freeing Coffey and proving his innocence. Because as the reader finds out here and a later dialouge between Coffey and Edgecomb that Wharton actually raped and killed the little girls, not Coffey he was only trying to save thme with his magic power of healing. The group couldn't find a solution and sat silently as Mrs. Edgecomb stormed out of the room out of rage.
When the day comes of Coffey's execution, its a very solemn day and Edgecomb describes it as his hardest one because he knows that he's executing someone for someone's elses crime. The execution is sucssessful but only Coffey didn't want the black bag over his head because he's afraid of the dark and didn't want to "go out left in the dark."
After the execution, Edgecomb goes back to the future and shows the reader and his friend Elain that Steamboat willy, the prison mouse, was still alive and was living in a shed near the nursing home. However the mouse dies right there and then. The story ends with Edgecomb again as the speaker thinking about his time at the Mile and how it affected him. The closing line of the book is, "We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh Go, the Green Miles is so long."
And that, my friends, is The Green Mile.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Jail Breakouts and Brain Tumors and Magic- Oh My???
Poor Edgecomb, abused more and more in his little nursing home by that one male aide. Yes, yes, I know Edgecomb, he bullys you. But believe me, it'll be all over soon enough.
But anyways back to the plot. So who really is this black magic, John Coffey? How does he get this power? Did he really kill those little girls? The thrid of those three questions is only half the reason why Edgecomb first asked his wife for permission (note) to invite the other guards over for lunch, again excluding Wetmore. Because over cold corn sandwiches and tea, they all listen to Edgecombs theory and then to the real cheese of this chalupa. The Warden Moorse's wife. She is sick.... with a BRAIN TUMOR! She couldn't have just got a cold, no, the poor soul had to go and get a brain tumor. Fabulous. So after witnessing first- hand Coffey's healing powers twice, once on his own self and the other Coffey brought back something back to life, Edgecomb is convinced that Coffey can heal the warden's wife.... or so he hopes. So the unanimous plan? Break Coffey out of the prison at night and have a little rendevous to the Moorse household to suck a brain tumore, more or less, out of a woman they barely know. Why? And there are a couple reaons.
1) His close friends with the warden and doesn't like seeing him grieve for his wife.
2) Maybe this can free Coffey.
3) Edgecomb is trying to make up for Delacroix being burned alive instead of a quick execution.
But for whatever true reason, they all did it.
The journey to the warden's house was very successful, it took about an hour but it was still successful. When they got there Edgecomb and Brutal walked up to the door, leaving Harry with Coffey back at the truck by himself. Well Edgecomb tried to do the talking but it ended up being Coffey just walking up with Harry behind him through the front door and up to the warden's wife in the guest bedroom. The rest of the crew followed and watched in awe when Coffey, while kissing the warden's wife, suck the tumor out of her and then jumped out to cough like crazy. It was a sucsess! The warden's wife was cured. And everyone was happy. So the crew then drove back, before sunrise, and got Coffey back to his cell with no questions asked.
Wow, part five was a wild and crazy ride
But anyways back to the plot. So who really is this black magic, John Coffey? How does he get this power? Did he really kill those little girls? The thrid of those three questions is only half the reason why Edgecomb first asked his wife for permission (note) to invite the other guards over for lunch, again excluding Wetmore. Because over cold corn sandwiches and tea, they all listen to Edgecombs theory and then to the real cheese of this chalupa. The Warden Moorse's wife. She is sick.... with a BRAIN TUMOR! She couldn't have just got a cold, no, the poor soul had to go and get a brain tumor. Fabulous. So after witnessing first- hand Coffey's healing powers twice, once on his own self and the other Coffey brought back something back to life, Edgecomb is convinced that Coffey can heal the warden's wife.... or so he hopes. So the unanimous plan? Break Coffey out of the prison at night and have a little rendevous to the Moorse household to suck a brain tumore, more or less, out of a woman they barely know. Why? And there are a couple reaons.
1) His close friends with the warden and doesn't like seeing him grieve for his wife.
2) Maybe this can free Coffey.
3) Edgecomb is trying to make up for Delacroix being burned alive instead of a quick execution.
But for whatever true reason, they all did it.
The journey to the warden's house was very successful, it took about an hour but it was still successful. When they got there Edgecomb and Brutal walked up to the door, leaving Harry with Coffey back at the truck by himself. Well Edgecomb tried to do the talking but it ended up being Coffey just walking up with Harry behind him through the front door and up to the warden's wife in the guest bedroom. The rest of the crew followed and watched in awe when Coffey, while kissing the warden's wife, suck the tumor out of her and then jumped out to cough like crazy. It was a sucsess! The warden's wife was cured. And everyone was happy. So the crew then drove back, before sunrise, and got Coffey back to his cell with no questions asked.
Wow, part five was a wild and crazy ride
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Plot Thickens While John Coffey's Hands Heal
Realtity Check: At this time Edgecomb is in an assisted living home because his grandchildren thought it was best for him, a home called Georgia Pines, a home where he made friends with another elderly person named Elaine who they share a sublte romance (Edgecomb's wife died long before this). So the first chapter of section three is Edgecomb describing the home and gives the reader a litte snick snack of his lifestyle there. He describes his stay there as the solution to his gradnchildren's "problem" and namely him being their problem. Which makes me question, where are his own kids? If he has grandchildren already sending him to a nursing home, shouldn't his children still be alive. But I digress, his children probably died in some gruesome ping pong table accident that he just forgets to mention and fill the reader in with. But I should be a little kinder and respect the fictional dead, their fictional family is still probably impacted immensely from the ficitonal event.
So then the story does another blast to the past and Edgecomb is young... -ish again and is still a guard at the pen. This time another inmate joins the E block crew and his name is William Wharton who likes to be called Syd the Kid because of course he has a tattoo with that name on his arm, as one does. But everyone who he comes into contact with goes ahead and sticks with his nickname Wild Bill which he hates with a passion. Wild Bill is acutally 19 years old but he sure is a handful. In a report about his it was written that, "he just doesn't care" which Edgecomb points out was underlined. Well on the transaction to getting Wild Bill into the prison, he just so happens to alsmot kill one of the younger guards. Shame it wasn't Wetmore, who at the time was frozen stiff from "fear" of the attack on his co-worker. Wild Bill is now the spice to this boring taco of a prison and keeps the guards somewhat busy.
Ok so let's really get down to the nitty gritty, Edgecomb complains for the longest time about his urinery tract infection and goes into gross detail about how it feels when he pees and when the days gros hot. I did not feel compelled to read the many parts about how much pain his unmentionable was in but I did anyways because it leas into this next portion where I will tell you that... JOHN COFFEY'S HAND ARE MAGIC! It all starts with Coffey telling telling Edgecomb that he's capable to help him only if Edgecomb would let Coffey touch his crotch. Edgecomb did. Weird. And then Edgecomb describes Coffey "healing" his UTI to the point where he is cured by it. We don't know what John Coffey is but my guess is he is put here to literally heal but also as to figuratively heal society as a negro and its corruption by one innocent act at a time. Jeez, Stephen King, you think you're like the Rosetta Stone but I can crack you.
Sprinkled throughout the story, the fact is mentioned and backed up by dog-like mouse tricks that Steamboat Willie was adopted by Del and Del said that Steamboat Willie whispered to him, among tother things, that his name is actually Mr. Jingles. So Mr. Jingles is now Del's pet and he can do tricks that seem like only a dog would do. So the day before Del's execution Del was wondering what would happen to Mr. Jingles. While this is being discussed Del accidently rolls Mr. Jingles toys out of his cell and Mr. Jingle follows and while out in the open of the prison, Wetmore stomps on Mr. Jingles and kills him out of unreasonable hatred toward Del and Mr. Jingles. What a way to end a section.
So then the story does another blast to the past and Edgecomb is young... -ish again and is still a guard at the pen. This time another inmate joins the E block crew and his name is William Wharton who likes to be called Syd the Kid because of course he has a tattoo with that name on his arm, as one does. But everyone who he comes into contact with goes ahead and sticks with his nickname Wild Bill which he hates with a passion. Wild Bill is acutally 19 years old but he sure is a handful. In a report about his it was written that, "he just doesn't care" which Edgecomb points out was underlined. Well on the transaction to getting Wild Bill into the prison, he just so happens to alsmot kill one of the younger guards. Shame it wasn't Wetmore, who at the time was frozen stiff from "fear" of the attack on his co-worker. Wild Bill is now the spice to this boring taco of a prison and keeps the guards somewhat busy.
Ok so let's really get down to the nitty gritty, Edgecomb complains for the longest time about his urinery tract infection and goes into gross detail about how it feels when he pees and when the days gros hot. I did not feel compelled to read the many parts about how much pain his unmentionable was in but I did anyways because it leas into this next portion where I will tell you that... JOHN COFFEY'S HAND ARE MAGIC! It all starts with Coffey telling telling Edgecomb that he's capable to help him only if Edgecomb would let Coffey touch his crotch. Edgecomb did. Weird. And then Edgecomb describes Coffey "healing" his UTI to the point where he is cured by it. We don't know what John Coffey is but my guess is he is put here to literally heal but also as to figuratively heal society as a negro and its corruption by one innocent act at a time. Jeez, Stephen King, you think you're like the Rosetta Stone but I can crack you.
Sprinkled throughout the story, the fact is mentioned and backed up by dog-like mouse tricks that Steamboat Willie was adopted by Del and Del said that Steamboat Willie whispered to him, among tother things, that his name is actually Mr. Jingles. So Mr. Jingles is now Del's pet and he can do tricks that seem like only a dog would do. So the day before Del's execution Del was wondering what would happen to Mr. Jingles. While this is being discussed Del accidently rolls Mr. Jingles toys out of his cell and Mr. Jingle follows and while out in the open of the prison, Wetmore stomps on Mr. Jingles and kills him out of unreasonable hatred toward Del and Mr. Jingles. What a way to end a section.
The Story of a Mouse
Edgecomb introduces and talks about two very, and when I say minor I mean minor, minor characters who are nicknamed, like everything else at the prison because people's or thing's original names never seem to suffice, Chief and The President. While the The President is released and becomes a free man, Chief is unfortuantly left to be executed by the leather strap and wooden glory of Old Sparky. Edgecomb takes the time to explain the process of executing someone very detailed from the rehearsal the day before to when they dispose Cheif's body. Again I ask, WHY does Edgecomb or any of these guards do this job? I guess because the Depression just smacked America in the face before these events they would get work anywhere left possible but still.
Ending this section of deliciousness, Edgecomb also introduces anouther character who is an inmate but is not a minor character in the least. A another little but french man named Edmund Delacroix who raped and killed a girl but tried to hide it by burning down a building and killing six more in the process... find the sense in that. But little Del, as the guards again express their urge to nickname, wasn't greeted by the welcome wagon but by Wetmore who beat him with his leather baton because he claims that Del touched his manhood on purppose when in all reality Del was reaching out instinctively for something for him to hold on to while he fell when Wetmore pushed him.
Thus, another section concludes with more of a plot unraveling.
Once Upon A Time... On Death Row
It's 1932 at Cold Mountain Penitntiary in some unidentified southern state in America... wow that's helpful. Our main caharacter, Paul Edgecomb is retelling the events of his time as the ward superintendent at the pen.'s death row E block. Where him and the other guards are compelled as their jobs to make the last few weeks of the prisoner's lives as calm and content as possible. Whether that is turning on the radio for them, listening to the stories of their misrable lives or keeping them in line until the day finally creeps up on them where the accused will sit their tired and sorry rear end onto the lap of "Old Sparky", the infamous electric chair. I love the sick humor the faculty of E block but I guess if you've been through as many executions as they did it may be easier to amuse oneself while someone is being roasted 'til their death within 50 feet of you.
The story goes on and talks about boring stuff like the minor characters, the other guards, and their nicknames including a brief bio. Just simply the blood and skin of the story that gives some meat to the text so the reader gets a wholesome feeling reading the book. Then the first person narration takes a quick change of course and starts to obivously foreshadow about the most important and memorable inmate, John Coffey. Which he takes the time to point out that it's "not spelled like the drink". Apparently he raped then murdered (or murdered then raped) two blond twin and most importantly WHITE little girls so death row is where this guy is immediantly sent after a very speedy trial for this black giant. Which is also apparently the center of everyone's concern, in the ALL white court session, John Coffey the "raisin" of the joint.
After the little montage about the whole reason that Stephen King wrote this book, Edgecomb goes on to talk about one of the guards named Percy Wetmore who is quite frankly an ass. He acts like he has that little man syndrone, the Napolean thing, where little men have to act all mean and tough to make up for their size. Wetmore is also an ass to say the least because he claims he has connections of a higher authority that landed him that job and faunts it to the extremes. Why he wanted to work on death row is my guess where he's probably trying to subconciously and psychologically make up for some childhood tragedy. Yes, Stephen King, I have you figured out. And Edgecomb is just complaining about him here but I should give him a little more credit than that by saying that he's also.. wait, no... just complaining.
This story was broken up into six main sections with about eight to ten not very long chapters in each. Basically I'm planning on compiling my blog into a post a section, so including this one, seven total (and the first ito blog, people). So sit back and relax and prepare for only five more, oh please don't cry.
The story goes on and talks about boring stuff like the minor characters, the other guards, and their nicknames including a brief bio. Just simply the blood and skin of the story that gives some meat to the text so the reader gets a wholesome feeling reading the book. Then the first person narration takes a quick change of course and starts to obivously foreshadow about the most important and memorable inmate, John Coffey. Which he takes the time to point out that it's "not spelled like the drink". Apparently he raped then murdered (or murdered then raped) two blond twin and most importantly WHITE little girls so death row is where this guy is immediantly sent after a very speedy trial for this black giant. Which is also apparently the center of everyone's concern, in the ALL white court session, John Coffey the "raisin" of the joint.
After the little montage about the whole reason that Stephen King wrote this book, Edgecomb goes on to talk about one of the guards named Percy Wetmore who is quite frankly an ass. He acts like he has that little man syndrone, the Napolean thing, where little men have to act all mean and tough to make up for their size. Wetmore is also an ass to say the least because he claims he has connections of a higher authority that landed him that job and faunts it to the extremes. Why he wanted to work on death row is my guess where he's probably trying to subconciously and psychologically make up for some childhood tragedy. Yes, Stephen King, I have you figured out. And Edgecomb is just complaining about him here but I should give him a little more credit than that by saying that he's also.. wait, no... just complaining.
This story was broken up into six main sections with about eight to ten not very long chapters in each. Basically I'm planning on compiling my blog into a post a section, so including this one, seven total (and the first ito blog, people). So sit back and relax and prepare for only five more, oh please don't cry.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Roll on Two! First Post :)
Hey, so it's Saturday night, your phone's blowing up with friends calling you, you just got paid and what do you do? Make a blog, of course! And what should I blog about? I could blog about anything in the world; vacations, movies, even puppies! But when I have so many options to blog about I'm going to write about nothing other than my Honors 11 class Indeprendent Reading Project book. And what book is that you ask? Well, that book is none other than the fantasy The Green Mile written by Stephen King. "Hey Alicia, is that book also a movie?" Why, yes it is and it's starred by Tom Hanks, by the way. This blog is to let you, the reader and biggest fan, to almost "read" the novel along with me where I will write summaries of each section in the book and give my two cents about what's happening. Oh and I know that you're dying of what "roll on two' could ever possibly mean. Well, I won't give you the luxury of giving that little snack of the story given away. You will just have to follow my blog until that's revealed i time. :)
A Little Taste of The Green Mile
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