The Green Mile: Part 6: Chapter 13 Summary & Analysis

Paul recounts Janice’s death, which took place on a rainy day in Alabama in 1956. Paul and Janice were traveling by bus to see their third grandchild’s graduation at the University of Florida. On the way, however, they got a flat tire and, as the bus skidded, it was hit by a truck. Paul regained consciousness among dying bodies. He went to his wife and knelt beside her as she shook as though she were being electrocuted. When he called out for help, he saw John Coffey in the shadows, but the figure soon disappeared. Paul believed it could have been a ghost. When Janice died in Paul’s arms, he cried out, wondering why John Coffey saved Melinda Moores but not his wife. Paul then realized that he, too, had been saved.

In that moment, Paul realized there was no difference between salvation and damnation. He recalls the strange force John poured into him, and explains that since that moment he has never gotten sick. He was spared all the diseases that affected his friends, and he even avoided death during the accident that killed Janice. Since then, and especially since Elaine Connelly’s death, Paul now finds himself wishing for death.

Looking back on his writing, Paul thinks about God, who chose to sacrifice innocent John Coffey. Paul thinks of the deaths of Mr. Jingles and of his wife Janice. He says he does suffer from one ill: insomnia. He lies awake at night, thinking of the people he knew and has lost. He thinks of Janice and he waits. Finally, he accepts that he will die, but laments that the Green Mile can seem unbearably long.