In The Green Mile, Stephen King depicts the racial prejudice as the theme encountered by the main character, John Coffey. He is an enormous black man who faces execution after being convicted of raping and murdering twin sisters. He was found holding two girls in his arms by the police, who automatically assumed that he is guilty because of his size and skin color. In reality, John is a gentle, soft-spoken man who possesses surreal abilities of healing people by the touch of his

hands. On separate occasions, he is able to cure the

Based on these evidences, it is easily seen that stereotyping found in the society of that time destroys the life of the main character in the novel The Green Mile. The main character, John Coffey was an outcast in society due to his physical traits, most of which were fictitious or the result of natural forces beyond his control. In

can console yourself with that. One less nigger”(417). Clearly, it was evident that colored people of that time were looked down upon and mistreated.

illness of others around him, such as Paul’s urinary infection, Mrs. Detterick’s brain tumor as well as save the life of his pet mouse Mr. Jingles. Paul, one of the prison guards, explained John Coffey’s abilities by saying, “Mr. Jingles should have died, but he didn’t. Coffey did something to him with his bare hands. Healed him somehow. I know how that sounds, but I saw it with my own eyes.”(282). On that day, he had reached the twin girls much too late to be able to heal them, and upon the arrival of the police they were dead in his arms, which left the wrong impression. John explained the situation by saying, “I couldn’t help it. I tried to take it back, but it was too late.”(305). The police hearing the man saying such a thing like that with two little dead girls in his arms, them white and blonde, him black and as big as a house, automatically assumed that he was the killer indeed and did not bother to investigate the crime.

In addition, John Coffey is not given

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