Moore's house. What do you think the dream signifies?"

Coffey on the Mile: "Would you want to possess John Coffey's 'Gift'? Why or why not?"

The Green Mile can be effectively discussed alongside other books, both fiction and non-fiction, that explore the lives of prisoners, particularly those on death row. Percy Wetmore escorts John Coffey to E Block, exclaiming: "Dead man walking! Dead man walking here!" (The Two Dead Girls). This references Helen Prejean's book, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States (1993), or the film adaptation of it. Additional works set in a prison environment include Brendan Behan's play, The Quare Fellow; Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song (1979; see separate entry); Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (1965; see separate entry); Jack Henry Abbott's In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from Prison (1981); and Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Ice (1967).

1. Explore Paul's reflections on his writing process and how revisiting the events of 1932 impacts him in the present. Why does he feel the need to relive such painful experiences?

2. What similarities can you identify between E-Block and the Georgia Pines Nursing Home? Discuss other ways in which E-Block, with its condemned prisoners awaiting execution, serves as a metaphor for different human conditions.

3. Analyze The Green Mile as a commentary on the death penalty. What are your thoughts on the fact that, during the timeline covered, the executed individuals are a Native American, a French Canadian, and a man who is both Black and mentally disabled?

4. Consider the influence of God in The Green Mile. Raised in the "church of Praise Jesus, The Lord Is Mighty," Paul perceives divine intervention in Coffey's miraculous healings and the appearance of Mr. Jingles, who comforts the condemned murderer, Eduard Delacroix. However, by the story's conclusion, Paul is deeply troubled by what he sees as God's cruelty in allowing the tragic deaths of his wife, the Detterick twins, and John Coffey. How do you interpret this apparent contradiction? Do you think the spiritual perspective of the younger or older Paul better explains the events in the book?

5. The Green Mile concludes with a melancholy tone. The sadistic orderly, Brad Dolan, remains unpunished, which is unusual for a Stephen King story. All of Paul's friends have passed away, and Paul himself is awaiting a death that seems to be delayed. Do you find King's somber ending fitting, or would you prefer to change it?

6. King's novels are frequently adapted into films, and he draws much of his literary inspiration from cinema. Would The Green Mile lend itself well to a film adaptation? If so, whom would you select as the director? Which actors would you choose for the roles of Paul Edgecombe, William Wharton, and John Coffey?

7. Is it believable that Paul Edgecombe goes to great lengths to uncover evidence proving John Coffey's innocence in the murders of Cora and Kathe Detterick, yet makes no effort to secure a new trial for him? Do you think Paul, as portrayed in the book, would carry out the execution of someone he knows—and can prove—is innocent?

8. King often hints at his characters' moral natures through their reading preferences. Percy is a fan of pornographic comics, Argosy, Stag, and Men's Adventure. Brad Dolan carries around Gross Jokes and Sick Jokes. What types of books do you enjoy, and what do they reveal about you? If you're a Stephen King enthusiast, why do his works resonate with you?

9. What is the distinction between reading a book in full and experiencing it in installments? Do you agree with King that a story's impact is more profound when the reader cannot consume it all at once? What are the pros and cons of the serial format?

10. The Green Mile is predominantly set in the male-dominated environment of a death row prison block. However, there are some female characters, such as Paul's wife, Janet, his elderly special friend, Elaine Connelly, the warden's sick wife, Melinda, and Mrs. Detterick, who attends Coffey's execution and demands that he suffer. Do you find King's portrayal of women to be convincing? Why or why not?

11. In a review of The Green Mile in the New York Times Book Review, the novel is described as lacking authenticity in its portrayal of the "Depression ambiance," suggesting that it "radiates 1996, not 1931, or feels borrowed from a James Cagney movie." Do you concur with this evaluation? If so, which elements of the Depression-era setting or the characters' attitudes and dialogue appear out of place to you? Does the absence of historical accuracy affect your enjoyment of the book?

Stephen King is renowned for infusing his writing with a strong moral earnestness, particularly when addressing various social issues. Among his works, The Green Mile stands out as the most explicitly didactic. Its aim is to ignite the reader's anger over the cruelty and randomness of the death penalty. King argues that those who fall victim to capital punishment are predominantly the impoverished, members of social or racial minorities, or individuals with mental impairments. Throughout the novel, three men are executed: a Native American, a French Canadian with a low social standing, and a black man with cognitive disabilities. In stark contrast, "the President," a well-connected white man who has committed patricide, spends only a short time on E Block before his sentence is reduced to life imprisonment. The novel's portrayal of so-called "routine" executions is profoundly affecting, with Delacroix's agonizing death during a deliberately sabotaged execution by a cruel guard being among the most distressing scenes in King's body of work.

King employs powerful rhetorical strategies to provoke the reader's disgust for capital punishment, one of which is his selection of narrator. Paul Edgecombe, the self-described "bull-goose screw" of E Block at Cold Mountain Prison (the death row), possesses a deep empathy for the condemned men and often reflects on the moral and spiritual implications of their situations. Along with the generally decent men he oversees (with one notable exception), Paul is responsible for confining the prisoners, preparing them for execution, rehearsing the ritual walk to "Old Sparky," and ultimately executing fellow human beings. As Paul becomes increasingly repulsed by his work, he reflects on strapping a man into the electric chair: "I could hear Del breathing in great dry pulls of air, lungs that would be charred bags less than four minutes from now, laboring to keep up with his fear-driven heart. The fact that he had killed half a dozen people seemed at that moment the least important thing about him" (The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix). As an elderly man reflecting on his role in over seventy executions, Paul concludes, "Old Sparky seems such a thing of perversity when I look back on those days, such a deadly bit of folly . . . . To kill each other with gas and electricity, and in cold blood? The folly. The horror" (Coffey on the Mile). Paul's compelling narrative voice serves as the moral core of the novel.

King contrasts the setting of Cold Mountain Prison with Georgia Pines, where Paul, now 104 years old, pens his story. Much like the condemned inmates, the elderly residents in the nursing home are unable to leave and are subject to the whims of their caretakers, for better or worse. Two sadistic individuals, Percy Wetmore at Cold Mountain and Brad Dolan at Georgia Pines, are drawn to their respective roles because they crave power over others. Paul refers to both E Block and Georgia Pines as "killing bottles," as both institutions isolate those sentenced to death from the rest of society.

Stephen King is among the most allusive writers in modern fiction. As an avid and diverse reader and movie enthusiast, his works are peppered with references from a vast array of sources. Part of the enjoyment in reading The Green Mile is feeling like an insider who catches the nods not only to Poe, Lovecraft, and other horror authors but also to Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (1937; see separate entry), the noir films White Heat (1949) and Kiss of Death (1947), as well as the Bible.

Readers might find it intriguing to delve into the numerous biblical references in The Green Mile. In the character of John Coffey, King alludes to both Isaiah's servant and Jesus. Coffey is overwhelmed by a profound empathy for humanity's suffering, leading him to weep constantly, reminiscent of Isaiah's portrayal of the suffering servant: "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: . . . and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53: 4-5). In Paul's dream about the crucifixion, Coffey symbolizes Christ. Paul and the guards, "Brutal," Harry, and Dean, take on the role of Centurions crucifying John Coffey, who is flanked by Percy Wetmore (the bad thief) and Eduard Delacroix (the good thief). Like Isaiah's servant and Christ, Coffey endures violence and derision from those he intended to save.

In the frame story of The Green Mile, Paul Edgecomb shares a "special friendship" with Elaine Connelly. Their late-in-life romance is reminiscent of the relationship between Ralph Roberts, who refers to himself as an "Old Crock," and Lois Chasse in King's novel Insomnia (1994). At sixty-eight, Lois is pressured by her adult children to move into a nursing home. In both books, King demonstrates deep empathy for the elderly who face threats to their independence. He suggests that even the best nursing homes are akin to another form of death row.

Old age is just one of the many forms of imprisonment, both literal and metaphorical, depicted in King's works. The younger Paul Edgecombe is compelled to partake in the execution of over seventy individuals due to the economic constraints of the Depression era. The warden's wife, Melinda Moore, is trapped by a terminal illness. Melinda, Paul, and the prisoners on E Block are among the many characters in King's novels who experience captivity: Jessie Burlingame is handcuffed to her bed in Gerald's Game (1992; see separate entry); Paul Sheldon is held captive in a remote Colorado farmhouse by his "number one fan" (Misery, 1987; see separate entry); Stu Redman is detained in a secret government medical facility in The Stand (1978).

"Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" (Different Seasons, 1982) and The Green Mile are King’s works set in prisons. Both stories challenge society's arbitrary decisions to label some individuals as deserving of imprisonment or even execution, while others, sometimes more malevolent, hold power over them. Andy Dufresne, an innocent man, is sentenced to life in Shawshank Prison for the murder of his wife and her lover. Similar to John Coffey, Andy is wrongfully convicted based on overwhelming circumstantial evidence. In both stories, the condemned man brings a transformative influence to his harsh and confining surroundings. Although not a Christ figure like Coffey, Andy Dufresne (as the title suggests) helps inmates find redemption by establishing the prison library and managing their financial investments.

Similar to the other two novels King released in 1996, The Regulators (refer to a different entry) and Desperation (refer to a different entry), The Green Mile explores the theme of demonic possession, though in a more subtle and nuanced manner. When Coffey heals Paul's urinary infection, he exhales what appear to be tiny black insects that turn white before vanishing. Medical professionals think Melinda Moore's brain tumor has triggered Tourette Syndrome, causing her to spew obscenities despite her previous ladylike demeanor. Paul speculates that a demon might be involved: "It had only been a matter of days since she had been recognizable—sick but still herself. Since then, the thing in her head must have moved with horrifying speed to consolidate its position. . . . Her expression when Coffey entered was one of fear and horror—as if something inside her had recognized a doctor that might be able to get at it and pry it loose . . . I'm not saying that Melly Moore was possessed, and I'm aware that, wrought up as I was, all my perceptions of that night must be suspect. But I have never completely discounted the possibility of demonic possession, either" (Night Journey). This connection between illness and demonic possession echoes back to the New Testament. Much like Jesus, Coffey functions as both a healer and an exorcist.

The demon Tak, which takes control of various characters in both The Regulators and Desperation, is an ancient earth spirit unleashed when an old mine, where Chinese miners were entombed, is discovered. In The Regulators, Tak possesses Seth, an autistic child, with the worst of his autistic traits being attributed to the demon's manipulation. Similar to the brain tumor demon in The Green Mile, the Tak of Desperation harms its hosts on both spiritual and physical levels. Tak exacerbates any existing ailments (such as cancer, a leaking heart valve, or a yeast infection) until the host's body is ultimately destroyed.

In Desperation, the devout child David Carver and The Green Mile's John Coffey serve as divine instruments in the struggle against demonic forces. The themes of these three books indicate that King is shifting away from monsters rooted in secular ideas and towards more explicitly spiritual topics.

Audiobooks were released at the same time as each chapbook. The full, unabridged version of The Green Mile is spread across twelve audio cassettes and lasts for eighteen hours. All these are narrated by Frank Muller, whose charmingly down-to-earth style perfectly captures the essence of King’s diligent, honorable, Southern Protestant storyteller, Paul Edgecombe. Muller has also lent his voice to other audiobooks based on King’s creations, including Different Seasons, Skeleton Crew (1985), The Mist (1985), and The Regulators.

The Green Mile has been translated into Hebrew (Tel Aviv: Modan, 1996) and Spanish (Barcelona: Plaza & Janes, 1996).