"The Green Mile" Chapters 1-6 Study Questions

"The Green Mile"
Study Questions, Chapters 1-6

1) What is your first impression of Paul Edgecombe?

2) Why do you suppose Paul felt he needed to tell his story?

3) What was your first impression of John Coffey when he was brought to Block E? What was the thing that first struck you most about Coffey?

4) Did you dislike Percy right away? Why do you suppose he wanted to work in the prison?

5) Paul offered John Coffey a handshake, which is something he had never done for a prisoner. Even he said he didn’t know why, perhaps Coffey’s admission about being afraid of the dark. What is your opinion as to why Paul made this gesture toward this particular prisoner?

6) In Chapter 4, Paul goes into detail about the death of the Detterick girls. When you read the account of events, did you think that John Coffey was guilty, or did you feel that there was something more to it than met the eye?

7) Why do you suppose (aside from the obvious where Coffey was found with the girls’ bodies) that everyone just assumed that John Coffey was the one who committed the murder?

8) In Chapter 6, we read that Paul is having a conversation with Warden Hal Moores about Percy. Moores tells Paul to let Percy be an active part of the execution of Eduard Delacroix, and then they could be rid of Percy due to his transference to Briar Ridge. Did you feel a sense of foreboding when you read this scene?