Summary

Summary of the Green Mile.

This is a story told by a man named Paul Edgecombe to a lady named Elaine. He is telling of his past as a prison guard at the Cold Mountain Prison. He tells of the year a man named John Coffey came to the prison. John was on death row and was being convicted of raping and murdering of two small white girls. Other members the prison include E. Delacroix or Del, William Wharton or Wild Bill, Arlen Bitterbuck, Arthur Flanders, and Mr. Jingles, who is a mouse.

The prisoners and guards alike are annoyed and antagonized by one of the new guards Percy. He is the son in law of the governor's wife, so no one can touch him. He gets offered a job at Briar Ridge nursing home. He doesn't take the job because he wants to oversee an execution before he transfers. He is allowed to run Del's execution, but he ruins it on purpose. He doesn't wet the sponge, and Del dies in an inhumane way. Prior to this, Paul has a urinary infection, which John magically heals. Sometime afterword, Percy crushes Mr. Jingles, and John revives him.

After the execution, Paul convinces the other guards to help him sneak John out of the prison to help cure the warden's wife, who has a brain tumor. They drug Wild Bill, and put Percy into a small closet in the back of the mile. They successfully sneak John out, and he is able to heal the tumor. They bring him back and John transfers the sickness to Percy, who in turn goes mad and shoots Wild Bill. Afterward Percy is admitted into Briar Ridge as a patient. Then, with his powers, John shows Paul that he is innocent and that Wild Bill actually committed the crime involving the two small girls. Paul wishes to help John, but John assures Paul that he wants to die and is ready to be killed in "Old Sparky," the electric chair. After John is executed, Paul no longer wishes to oversee any executions

The story then moves back to the present, where Paul reveals to Elaine that he is over one-hundred years old. He even shows her Mr. Jingles, who is also still alive. Paul thinks that those who were "touched" by John live an abnormally long life. At the end of the book, Paul is speculating on when he might die.