Editing The Green Mile (novel) (section)

==Characters==
===Main characters===
;Paul Edgecombe
:The [[protagonist]] and [[narrator]] of the book and the death row supervisor at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. He is 40 years old when the bulk of the story takes place, in 1932. He is a caring man and takes excellent care of the men on his block, avoiding conflict and keeping the peace whenever possible. He is the first character to discover John Coffey's amazing abilities, when the prisoner cures his urinary tract infection. It is also his idea to take Coffey to try to cure Melinda, Warden Hal Moores' wife, of her brain tumor. He transferred to Boy's Correctional with Brutus Howell shortly after Coffey's execution, and he is still alive at age 104 as of 1996, when he decides to pen down John Coffey's story, possibly to publicly reveal the latter's innocence.
;Brutus "Brutal" Howell
:He is second in command on the Green Mile and Paul's best friend. He is a tall, imposing man but not violent at all unless necessary. His nickname of "Brutal" is intended as [[irony]], as he is normally calm and soft-spoken. A former football tackle who had gone on to play at [[Louisiana State University]] (LSU) in his youth, he eventually suffers a fatal heart attack at home, presumably in his late fifties, about twenty-five years after Coffey's execution.
;John Coffey
:He is an [[African Americans|African American]] with a massive build (6&nbsp;ft 8 in tall), having been convicted of the rape and murder of two young girls and sentenced to death. He is very quiet and prefers to keep to himself, weeps almost constantly, and is afraid of the dark. Even at the end, during his execution, he asks Paul Edgecombe not to put on the traditional black silk mask used to block the view of the prisoner's face because he fears the dark. Coffey is described as "knowing his own name and not much else" and lacks the capability to do so much as tie a simple knot. At his trial, though, the prosecution contends that he lured the girls away from their home, disposed of the watchdog, and carefully planned the crime using abilities that Paul believes to be far beyond his reach. He is the calmest and mildest prisoner the guards have ever seen, despite his hulking form. He turns out to be innocent of the rape and murder of the two girls, but allows himself to be executed regardless because he is tired of all the cruelty in the world.
;Percy Wetmore
:The secondary antagonist of the story. He is a young and sadistic guard. He is disliked by Paul and the other guards because of his ways, but they cannot do anything about it because he is the nephew of the state governor's wife. He is very [[Homophobia|homophobic]] and attacks Eduard Delacroix for allegedly touching him, although it was an accident caused by Del stumbling out of the prison truck. He is later attacked by "Wild Bill" Wharton, consequently wets himself, and is teased by Delacroix for it. In retaliation, Percy deliberately sabotages Delacroix's execution. At the end of the story he is sent to the Briar Ridge mental institution, originally considered for a job but now as a patient, after Coffey transferred Melinda's disease to him that caused him to kill William Wharton and lose his sanity. Percy, who never recovered his sanity, eventually lives through a hospital fire and dies at another mental hospital in 1965.
;William "Wild Bill" Wharton
:The main antagonist of the story. He is on [[death row]] for various crimes, including an armed robbery in which he killed a pregnant woman and two other innocent bystanders. He does not like the nickname "[[Wild Bill Hickok|Wild Bill]]" but prefers to be called "[[Billy the Kid]]", a name that he has tattooed on his forearm. When he first arrives he manages to convince the guards that he is in a drugged stupor, only to attack and attempt to strangle to death Dean Stanton when they reach E Block. He continues to wreak havoc on the Mile and plays tricks such as urinating on the guards and spitting a chewed-up [[Moon Pie]] into Brutal's face. He is punished by being placed in solitary confinement countless times, but never learnt his lesson. As John Coffey is being smuggled to Hal Moores's house, Wild Bill grabs his arm and Coffey sees that he actually committed the crimes for which Coffey was convicted. Therefore, Coffey gives Percy the "sickness" he took from the warden's wife, thus killing Wild Bill.
;Eduard "Del" Delacroix
:He is a [[Cajuns|Cajun]] prisoner with a fairly slow grasp of the [[English language]], and has no family. He raped and murdered a young girl before starting a fire, which caused the deaths of six more people (including two children), resulting in his being sent to death row after a lengthy trial. While on the Mile, Del befriends a mouse named Mr Jingles, who becomes his best friend in his last days on death row. Percy, his enemy, sabotages his execution, causing Del to die a slow and gruesome death in the electric chair.
;Mr Jingles / Steamboat Willie
:Called [[Steamboat Willie]] by Brutal, he's an unusually intelligent mouse who enjoys eating peppermint sweets. He becomes a friend to Eduard Delacroix, who renames him Mr Jingles, in the few days before the man is executed. He is healed by John Coffey after being stomped on by Percy Wetmore. This gives him increased longevity and he finally dies 64 years later.

===Minor characters===
;Arthur "The President" Flanders
:An inmate on death row, convicted of killing his father in an insurance fraud scheme. His sentence is [[Commutation (law)|commuted]] to [[life imprisonment]], but he is later murdered by an unknown inmate in the prison laundry in 1944, 12 years after Coffey was put to death.
;Arlen "The Chief" Bitterbuck
:A [[Ouachita people|Washita]] [[Cherokee]] death row inmate, convicted of killing a man in a drunken brawl over a pair of boots. His execution is the first of three mentioned in Paul's story.
;Janice Edgecombe
:Paul Edgecombe's wife. Dies at the age of 59 in a bus accident on the way to her grandchild's graduation in 1956.
;Hal Moores
:The warden at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. After Coffey cured his wife, he somehow suspected the truth of Coffey's supposed guilt of the double murder he was convicted of. Hal died from a stroke around the same time as the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]].
;Melinda Moores
:Warden Moores's wife, who is dying of a brain tumor and is cured by John Coffey. She dies of a heart attack ten years later.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=v-IoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA482 Page 482: 'She died—of a heart attack, not a brain tumor—ten or eleven years later']</ref>
;Curtis Anderson
:The assistant warden.
;Dean Stanton
:A guard on E Block who is strangled and nearly killed by William Wharton. A father of young children, Paul ensures he takes no part in the taking of John Coffey to Melinda Moores due to the risk of losing his job. He applies for relocation to C Block after John Coffey's death, where he is murdered by an inmate four months later.
;Harry Terwilliger
:One of the main guards on E Block along with his friends Paul Edgecombe, Brutus Howell and Dean Stanton. He eventually dies of cancer in 1982, 50 years after John Coffey's execution.
;Bill Dodge
:A "floater" guard on E Block (not permanently assigned there).
;Jack Van Hay
:A guard who is part of the execution team. He operates the switch room.
;Toot-Toot
:A trustee who stands in for the condemned during execution rehearsals and sells snacks to prisoners and guards.
;Burt Hammersmith
:A reporter who wrote on the Detterick twins' murders and John Coffey's trial. Despite believing himself to be an "[[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]" man, he displays prejudice in his stance on "Negroes" and tries to convince Paul of John Coffey's guilt.
;Elaine Connelly
:A friend of Paul in the present-day nursing home where he tells his story. She is later revealed to be the grandmother of the Speaker of the [[Georgia House of Representatives]] and uses her influence to prevent Brad Dolan from harassing Paul. She dies from a heart attack three months after hearing Paul's story about John Coffey.
;Homer Cribus
:The Sheriff of Trapingus County, where the murders of the Detterick twins took place. Despite playing no part in apprehending John Coffey, he later shows up at the execution. An outspoken Baptist with strong racial prejudice and immensely overweight, he later succumbs to a [[heart attack]] while having sex with a 17-year-old African American in his office.
;Rob McGee
:The Deputy Sheriff of Trapingus County, who led the search party that found John Coffey. While displaying strong doubt about Coffey's guilt after being shown signs of innocence by Paul Edgecombe, he is still powerless to call for an appeal as he is subordinate to Sheriff Cribus, whom he allegedly hopes to succeed.
;Brad Dolan
:A malicious nursing home employee who harasses Paul Edgecombe. Paul strongly compares him to Percy Wetmore, and several times mistakes him for Percy, despite the latter having died in 1965.
;Kathe and Cora Detterick
:The two young girls whom John Coffey was convicted of raping and murdering, though the crime was actually done by William Wharton.
;Klaus and Marjorie Detterick
:The parents of Kathe and Cora. Marjorie was killed in a car accident 18 years after John Coffey's execution while Klaus died from a stroke in March 1933 shortly after John Coffey's execution.
;Howie Detterick
:Klaus and Marjorie's son and Kathe and Cora's brother who goes with his dad to find the twins after they were taken.