History Literature / TheGreenMile

* KickTheSonOfABitch: The prison guards do this to Percy ''a lot.'' In particular, they often mock him for fearing Wharton so much, and can't help but take some glee in shutting him off before they pull off the "prison break."

* UnreliableNarrator: The events might not have happened exactly as the aging Paul remembers them; for example, he remembers his son being grown at the time; when Elaine asks about it, Paul admits that it doesn't add up correctly.
** Except it does add up; Elaine mistakenly assumes Paul must have been quite young during the events at Cold Mountain, as she believes he is in his 80's as a Georgia Pines resident, 60-odd years later. [[spoiler:Paul admits he was 40 in 1932 when Coffey came to the Green Mile, and did indeed have 2 grown children. He is around 104 when he relates his story to Elaine in the nursing home.]]

%%* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: To show how tough he is, Edgecombe tells a story of how Moores faced down a prisoner with a shank. It ended with the prisoner on the ground with a broken wrist, calling for his mommy. Moores replies, "I'm not her, but if I were, I'd hike up my skirts and piss on you from the loins that gave you birth."

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Everyone throws one at Percy after what he does to Del.

** Paul mentions that one of the prisoners Arthur Flanders (nicknamed 'The President) had his death sentence commuted to life in prison, but was drowned in the prison laundry twelve years later -- drowned in ''dry-cleaning fluid,'' which apparently melted most of his face off, let alone what it did to his lungs.
** Delacroix's botched execution. It's not called "The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix" for nothing. The guards are supposed to soak a sponge in saltwater and put it inside the electrode cap so the current can easily flow through the prisoner's brain and kill him with on suffering. When Percy deliberately leaves the sponge dry, Del catches fire in the chair and suffers a prolonged, agonizing death.

* VillainousCrush: Wild Bill Wharton is explained as looking at Percy with a "dreamy like gaze". He even tells Percy he'd "rather fuck your asshole than your sister's pussy", though that was probably more of a "screw with the guard" moment.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: King admits that he did not research the time period very heavily, so there are some anachronisms -- for example, Mr. Jingles could very well have been called [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse "Steamboat Willy"]], but the Tijuana bible with WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}} and Olive Oyl probably couldn't have happened and neither ''Allen's Alley'' nor ''Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge'' had premiered in 1932. In-universe, this is justified as Paul being an UnreliableNarrator because of his aging memory -- for example, Elaine notes that Paul said his son was an adult at the time, which Paul admits doesn't add up.

* AdultFear: Klaus and Marjorie Detterick go to sleep with their young twin daughters camping out on the porch for the night -- and wake to find the girls not only gone, but the screen door destroyed, spatters of blood on the porch and the family guard dog with a broken neck. A frantic search only results in the discovery of the girls' raped and murdered corpses, in the arms of the man who murdered them. [[spoiler:However, Paul ''then'' works out that John Coffey didn't actually abduct the girls; it was William Wharton who did the deed, after he worked as a hired hand on the Detterick farm for a few days and learned exactly when there'd be a prime opportunity to strike. It's all too easy for a cunning and sadistic person to get close to your children...]]

** Delacroix's botched execution. It's not called "The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix" for nothing. After Percy does not soak the sponge correctly, Delacroix is left to take the force of electricity full-charge with no current. This results in him basically ''cooking'' alive, and he's horribly aware of it the whole time.
* CursedWithAwesome: Coffery blessed (or cursed) Edgecombe by resistance against aging. [[spoiler:He is 104 when he narrates the events of the book, and doesn't look like a day over sixty]].

* DeepSouth: Though the state is unnamed, it is heavily implied to be in Georgia (though TheMovie puts it in Louisiana).

* ShoutOut: In editions released after TheMovie, Paul and his wife dance to [[Film/TopHat "Cheek To Cheek"]].

** Paul mentions that one of the prisoners Arthur Flanders (nicknamed 'The President) had his death sentence commuted to life in prison, but was drowned in the prison laundry twelve years -- drowned in ''dry-cleaning fluid,'' which apparently melted most of his face off, let alone what it did to his lungs.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Delacroix's botched execution. Its not called "The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix" for nothing. After Percy does not soak the sponge correctly, Delacroix is left to take the force of electricity full-charge with no current. This results in him basically ''cooking'' alive, and he's horribly aware of it the whole time.

* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler:Who exactly is John Coffey? Why does he have healing powers? Even he doesn't know.]]

* TheRainman:
** [[spoiler:Coffey, as well as being a MagicalNegro.]]