What is the basic storyline of the book “The Green Mile”?
The book is a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, who worked as a Cold Mountain Penitentiary block supervisor on death row, nicknamed “The Green Mile”, in 1932. It switches between the events that occurred there, and Paul in the “present” as an old man in a nursing home writing the story, and his “special friend” Elaine Connelly reading it. The story centers on John Coffey, a 6’8″ black man who is convicted of raping and murdering two small white girls. He is notable because of his size and strange behavior. Besides Coffey, there are two other prisoners on the cellblock during the main period the book focuses on: Eduard “Del” Delacroix, a Cajun arsonist and murderer who is cowardly and weak-minded, and William “Wild Bill” Wharton, a wild and dangerous multiple murderer who is determined to make as much trouble as he can before he is executed. Looking back, Paul also describes his experiences with a Washita Cherokee murderer named Arlen Bitterbuck, nicknamed “The Chief”, and
