Peace In The Margins

“Sometimes there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation.” 

Paul Edgecombe, The Green Mile

I’ve been troubled over the past week, as I’m sure many of you have. So, with my heart hurting for both for the family of George Floyd and for my brothers and sisters in blue, I felt I needed to forego the usual book review. Instead, I want to tell you about a book I’ve read several times – The Green Mile. This is the story of John Coffey, Paul Edgecombe, and the guards and inmates on the E Block at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. But this depression era tale will go down as one of Stephen King’s greatest works, and mark my words, it will stand the test of time.

So, what makes this review different from my others? It has been several years since I’ve read The Green Mile for starters, but more than that, I believe King gave us a cautionary tale that speaks to the very heart of what is happening right now across the nation.

It is difficult to articulate the pain I feel when the thin blue line is tarnished from within the ranks, but the reality is that in every walk of like there are bad seeds – and the Minneapolis Police Department is not exempt. Neither is the Green Mile. When Percy Wetmore arrives on scene, as the old saying goes, it got worse before it got better.

“Working with him was sort of like trying to defuse a bomb with somebody standing behind you and every now and then clashing a pair of cymbals together. In a word, upsetting.” 

Paul Edgecombe, The Green Mile

Therefore, instead of writing a complete analysis of all the ways characters can be compared to real life persons, taking on the hot topic of racism and police relations, or digging deep into the themes and nuances of the story, I’m just going to share some of the more profound quotes (in no particular order) from the book – the ones I personally feel apply to this exact moment in history. Read them – really inhale the words – then decide for yourself.

“It’s strange how pain marks our faces and makes us look like family.”

Burt Hammersmith, The Green Mile

“Like some dogs: kick them once and they never trust you again, no matter how nice you are to them.” 

Burt Hammersmith, The Green Mile

“The world turns, that’s all. You can hold on and turn with it or stand up to protest and be spun right off.” 

Paul Edgecombe, The Green Mile

“A man’s hand is like an animal that’s only half-tame; mostly it’s good, but sometimes it escapes and bites the first thing it sees.” 

Burt Hammersmith, The Green Mile

“Television is all right, I’ve nothing against it, but I don’t like how it turns you away from the rest of the world and toward nothing but its own glassy self.”

Paul Edgecombe, The Green Mile

“You think, if a man, he sincerely repent of what he done wrong, he might get to go back to the time that was happiest for him and live there forever? Could that be what heaven is like?” 

John Coffey, The Green Mile

“That John Coffey whose eyes were always streaming tears, like blood from a wound that can never heal.” 

Paul Edgecombe, The Green Mile

“It was over. We had once again succeeded in destroying what we could not create.”

Paul Edgecombe, The Green mile

There are so many more I could have chosen, but I’ll leave you with these. I encourage you to add The Green Mile to your TBR list if you’ve not already read it (side note: the movie is pretty good, too). Not only will you be surprised, especially if it is your first date with King, but you will get a sense of humanity from the story. A sense that we are all members of this big, ugly and beautiful world, and for what it’s worth, the majority in fact does want peace and harmony. We are tired of all the hate and recognize the need for a Savior. And King got it right portraying John Coffey (JC) as the novel’s Christ figure, but even then he, a mere human, couldn’t be their salvation.

“I’m rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. I’m tired of bein’ on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. Not never havin’ no buddy to go on with or tell me where we’s comin’ from or goin’ to or why. I’m tired of people bein’ ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I’m tired of all the times I’ve wanted to help and couldn’t. I’m tired of bein’ in the dark. Mostly it’s the pain. There’s too much. If I could end it, I would. But I can’t.” 

John Coffey, The Green Mile

Until Next Time,

Alicia