Paul Edgecombe's Introduction

Paul Edgecombe, the elderly narrator, begins his account from a Georgia nursing home in the present day. He recalls his time as the block superintendent of E Block at Cold Mountain Penitentiary in 1932, where he presided over executions on the electric chair known as Old Sparky. He introduces the Green Mile, the lime-colored linoleum corridor leading to the execution chamber, and sets the stage for the story of John Coffey, a giant black man condemned for the rape and murder of two nine-year-old girls, the Detterick twins. Edgecombe establishes his own voice as a seasoned, weary guard who has seen many executions but was forever changed by Coffey's case.