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64-668: Featuring a first-person narrative told by Paul Edgecombe, the novel switches between Paul as an old man in the Georgia Pines nursing home writing down his story in 1996, and his time in 1932 as the block supervisor of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary death row, nicknamed "The Green Mile" for the color of the floor's linoleum. This year marks the arrival of John Coffey, a 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall powerfully built black man who has been convicted of raping and murdering two young white girls. During his time on

128-453: A catatonic state from which he never recovers. Percy is then committed to Briar Ridge as a patient. Paul's long-simmering suspicions that John is innocent are proven right when he discovers that it was actually Wharton who raped and killed the two girls and that John was trying to revive them. Later, John tells Paul what he saw, when Wharton grabbed his arm one time, how Wharton had coerced the sisters to be silent by threatening to kill one if

192-466: A story within a story , wherein a narrator or character observing the telling of a story by another is reproduced in full, temporarily, and without interruption shifting narration to the speaker. The first-person narrator can also be the focal character. With a first-person narrative it is important to consider how the story is being told, i.e., is the character writing it down, telling it out loud, thinking it to themselves? And if they are writing it down,

256-529: A stream of consciousness and interior monologue , as in Marcel Proust 's In Search of Lost Time . The whole of the narrative can itself be presented as a false document , such as a diary, in which the narrator makes explicit reference to the fact that he is writing or telling a story. This is the case in Bram Stoker 's Dracula . As a story unfolds, narrators may be aware that they are telling

320-637: A 10th anniversary edition of the novel in three different versions, each mimicking the original six-volume release: the Gift Edition, limited to 2,000 copies, containing six unsigned hardcover volumes of each separate part, housed in a slipcase; the Limited Edition, limited to 148 numbered copies, and signed by Stephen King, housed in a slipcase; and the Lettered Edition, limited to 52 lettered copies, and signed by Stephen King, housed in

384-567: A Grove (the source for the movie Rashomon ) and Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury . Each of these sources provides different accounts of the same event, from the point of view of various first-person narrators. There can also be multiple co-principal characters as narrator, such as in Robert A. Heinlein 's The Number of the Beast . The first chapter introduces four characters, including

448-630: A bouncer at several Chicago clubs. Duncan also played basketball at Kankakee Community College and for one season for the Alcorn State Braves . In 1979, he participated in the Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park , home of the Chicago White Sox , where he was among the first 100 people to run onto the field and slide into third base. During the ensuing riot, his silver belt buckle was stolen while he

512-429: A combination of stories, experiences, and servants' gossip. As such, his character is an unintentionally very unreliable narrator and serves mainly to mystify, confuse, and ultimately leave the events of Wuthering Heights open to a great range of interpretations. A rare form of the first person is the first-person omniscient, in which the narrator is a character in the story, but also knows the thoughts and feelings of all

576-409: A conversation with British publisher Malcolm Edwards , learned that Charles Dickens had often published his stories in shorter instalments by either folding them into magazines, or by publishing the instalments on their own as a chapbook . After a lengthy struggle to write the novel, Vicinaza pitched the idea of writing the book "the same way it would be read - in installments" to King the year before

640-399: A fight over a pair of boots, Arthur Flanders, a real estate executive who killed his father to perpetrate insurance fraud ; and Mr Jingles, a mouse Del teaches various tricks. Paul and the other guards are irritated throughout the book by Percy Wetmore, a sadistic guard who enjoys antagonizing the prisoners. The other guards have to be civil to him despite their dislike of him because he is

704-492: A film would be the narration given by the character Greg Heffley in the film adaptation of the popular book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid . A autobiography is youshaly in the first person Michael Clarke Duncan Michael Clarke Duncan (December 10, 1957 – September 3, 2012) was an American actor. He is best known for his breakout role as John Coffey in The Green Mile (1999), for which he

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768-428: A first-person character, such as a protagonist (or other focal character ), re-teller, witness, or peripheral character. Alternatively, in a visual storytelling medium (such as video, television, or film), the first-person perspective is a graphical perspective rendered through a character's visual field, so the camera is "seeing" out of a character's eyes. A classic example of a first-person protagonist narrator

832-513: A first-season episode of CSI: NY . In 2008, he appeared as Mr. Colt in the second-season premiere of Chuck , " Chuck Versus the First Date " and as a guest star on two episodes of Two and a Half Men . Most notably, in April 2011, Duncan guest-starred on an episode of TV series Bones as Leo Knox which, in 2012, led to Duncan's receiving his first starring role as the same character in

896-435: A multi-level narrative structure is Joseph Conrad 's novella Heart of Darkness , which has a double framework: an unidentified "I" (first person singular) narrator relates a boating trip during which another character, Marlow, uses the first person to tell a story that comprises the majority of the work. Within this nested story , it is mentioned that another character, Kurtz, told Marlow a lengthy story; however, its content

960-678: A number of video games such as Demon Stone , SOCOM II U.S. Navy SEALs , The Suffering: Ties That Bind , Saints Row , Soldier of Fortune , and God of War II , where he provided the voice of the Titan Atlas . He additionally reprised his role as the Kingpin in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series . In addition to his film roles, Duncan guest-starred in numerous television shows. Two included an episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and

1024-570: A powerful mobster. Critic Roger Ebert praised Duncan for his performance in The Island , writing that '[Duncan] has only three or four scenes, but they're of central importance, and he brings true horror to them.' Duncan appeared in a supporting role in the 2006 comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby as Lucius Washington, and in 2009, he played Balrog in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and starred as

1088-413: A quick death in the electric chair . When the switch is thrown, the current causes Del to catch fire in the chair and suffer a prolonged, agonizing demise. Over time, Paul realizes that John Coffey possesses inexplicable healing abilities, which he uses to cure Paul's urinary tract infection and revive Mr Jingles after Percy stomps on him. Simple-minded and shy, John is very empathic and sensitive to

1152-541: A story and of their reasons for telling it. The audience that they believe they are addressing can vary. In some cases, a frame story presents the narrator as a character in an outside story who begins to tell their own story, as in Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein . First-person narrators are often unreliable narrators since a narrator might be impaired (such as both Quentin and Benjy in Faulkner's The Sound and

1216-409: A story in the grammatical first person, i.e. from the perspective of "I", is Herman Melville 's Moby-Dick , which begins with "Call me Ishmael." First-person narration may sometimes include an embedded or implied audience of one or more people. The story may be told by a person directly undergoing the events in the story without being aware of conveying that experience to readers; alternatively,

1280-419: A story is told will also affect how it is written. Why is this narrator telling the story in this way, why now, and are they to be trusted? Unstable or malevolent narrators can also lie to the reader. Unreliable narrators are not uncommon. In the first-person-plural point of view , narrators tell the story using "we". That is, no individual speaker is identified; the narrator is a member of a group that acts as

1344-526: A total of 18 times, and, the day after Duncan's death in September, Ferguson began his show with a tribute to him. In January 2013 during The Late Late Show ' s winter break, reruns of the Scotland episodes were broadcast with a tribute to Duncan at the beginning of each of the five episodes, featuring Duncan’s photo on a pink background and the text "In memory of our friend Michael Clarke Duncan." At

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1408-436: A traycase. Every edition contained new illustrations by Mark Geyer, the novel's original illustrator. Each version had its own design, and cost $ 150, $ 900, and $ 2,500, respectively. There were other versions published as well, including a "pocketbook" sized hardcover by Paw Prints ( ISBN   9781439182789 ). King was first made aware of the possibility to publish stories in shorter instalments by Ralph Vicinanza, who, after

1472-736: A unit. The first-person-plural point of view occurs rarely but can be used effectively, sometimes as a means to increase the concentration on the character or characters the story is about. Examples include: Other examples include Twenty-Six Men and a Girl by Maxim Gorky , The Treatment of Bibi Haldar by Jhumpa Lahiri , During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase , Our Kind by Kate Walbert , I, Robot by Isaac Asimov , and We Didn't by Stuart Dybek . First-person narrators can also be multiple, as in Ryūnosuke Akutagawa 's In

1536-431: Is Charlotte Brontë 's Jane Eyre (1847), in which the title character is telling the story in which she herself is also the protagonist: "I could not unlove him now, merely because I found that he had ceased to notice me". Srikanta by Bengali writer Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay is another first-person perspective novel which is often called a " masterpiece ". Srikanta , the title character and protagonist of

1600-702: Is for the main detective principal assistant, the "Watson", to be the narrator: this derives from the character of Dr. Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. First-person narratives can appear in several forms; interior monologue, as in Fyodor Dostoevsky 's Notes from Underground ; dramatic monologue, also in Albert Camus ' The Fall ; or explicitly, as Mark Twain 's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Other forms include temporary first-person narration as

1664-400: Is it something meant to be read by the public, a private diary, or a story meant for one other person? The way the first-person narrator is relating the story will affect the language used, the length of sentences, the tone of voice, and many other things. A story presented as a secret diary could be interpreted much differently than a public statement. First-person narratives can tend towards

1728-419: Is not revealed to readers. Thus, there is an "I" narrator introducing a storyteller as "he" (Marlow), who talks about himself as "I" and introduces another storyteller as "he" (Kurtz), who in turn presumably told his story from the perspective of "I". First-person narration is more difficult to achieve in film; however, voice-over narration can create the same structure. An example of first-person narration in

1792-725: The Sue Duncan Children's Center . In episode two of the season, Manigault won $ 40,000 for the charity. Duncan trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the Gracie Academy in Torrance, California , and held a purple belt in the discipline. Duncan was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after suffering a heart attack on July 13, 2012. By August 6, 2012, he had been moved from the intensive care unit but remained hospitalized. On September 3, 2012, Duncan died whilst in

1856-822: The Fury ), lie (as in The Quiet American by Graham Greene , or The Book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe ), or manipulate their own memories intentionally or not (as in The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro , or in Ken Kesey 's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ). Henry James discusses his concerns about "the romantic privilege of the 'first person ' " in his preface to The Ambassadors , calling it "the darkest abyss of romance ." One example of

1920-504: The Mile, John interacts with fellow prisoners Eduard "Del" Delacroix, a Cajun arsonist , rapist, and murderer; and William Wharton ("Billy the Kid" to himself, "Wild Bill" to the guards), an unhinged and dangerous multiple murderer who is determined to make as much trouble as he can before he is executed. Other inhabitants include Arlen Bitterbuck, a Native American convicted of killing a man in

1984-406: The actual writer of that book and playing the part of James Kirk (Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek ) as he wrote the novel. Since the narrator is within the story, he or she may not have knowledge of all the events. For this reason, the first-person narrative is often used for detective fiction , so that the reader and narrator uncover the case together. One traditional approach in this form of fiction

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2048-559: The author). In some cases, the narrator is writing a book—"the book in your hands"—and therefore he has most of the powers and knowledge of the author. Examples include The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco , and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon . Another example is a fictional "Autobiography of James T. Kirk" which was "Edited" by David A. Goodman who was

2112-406: The book in six installments : The part-by-part publication was a sore point with me and some readers as well, because the price was very high for a paperback; about nineteen dollars for all six installments (considerably less if bought at a discount store). For that reason a boxed set never seems like the ideal solution. This volume, a trade paperback available at a more sane price, seemed to be

2176-543: The character's large physique. In July 2006, Duncan showed interest in returning for the role of Kingpin, but stated that he would not be willing to regain the weight that he had lost. In 2009, he stopped eating meat and later appeared in a PETA ad campaign, touting the health benefits and his increased strength from a vegetarian diet . In 2005, Duncan appeared in The Island and Sin City , in which he played Manute,

2240-436: The events of the story and when they decided to tell them. If only a few days have passed, the story could be related very differently than if the character was reflecting on events of the distant past. The character's motivation is also relevant. Are they just trying to clear up events for their own peace of mind? Make a confession about a wrong they did? Or tell a good adventure tale to their beer-guzzling friends? The reason why

2304-533: The first-person narrator is the character of the author (with varying degrees of historical accuracy). The narrator is still distinct from the author and must behave like any other character and any other first-person narrator. Examples of this kind of narrator include Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. in Timequake (in this case, the first-person narrator is also

2368-412: The ideal solution. First-person narrative A first-person narrative (also known as a first-person perspective , voice , point of view , etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view , using first-person grammar such as "I", "me", "my", and "myself" (also, in plural form, "we", "us", etc.). It must be narrated by

2432-438: The initial narrator, who is named at the beginning of the chapter. The narrative continues in subsequent chapters with a different character explicitly identified as the narrator for that chapter. Other characters later introduced in the book also have their "own" chapters where they narrate the story for that chapter. The story proceeds in a linear fashion, and no event occurs more than once, i.e. no two narrators speak "live" about

2496-420: The initial release of the first instalment. The idea of serialized publication appealed to King on multiple levels; from the writer's responsibility to finish the story once the first installment is published, to the readers' inability to skip to the end of the story and ruin the suspense. In the introduction to the first collected edition of the story, King also explains the financial aspect of initially publishing

2560-517: The mouse dies – it had been alive the past 64 years. Paul explains that those healed by John gained an unnaturally long lifespan. Elaine dies shortly after, never learning the fact that on one fateful day of 1956 when Paul witnessed his wife's death from a traffic accident while on the way to their granddaughter's graduation, Paul saw the ghost of John Coffey looking at him from an overpass. The novel ends with Paul all alone, now 104 years old, wondering how much longer he will live. Frank Darabont adapted

2624-427: The narrative through the perspective of a particular character. The reader or audience sees the story through the narrator's views and knowledge only. The narrator is an imperfect witness by definition, because they do not have a complete overview of events. Furthermore, they may be pursuing some hidden agenda (an " unreliable narrator "). Character weaknesses and faults, such as tardiness, cowardice, or vice, may leave

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2688-524: The narrator in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë ; and the unnamed narrator in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad . Skilled writers choose to skew narratives, in keeping with the narrator's character, to an arbitrary degree, from ever so slight to extreme. For example, the aforementioned Mr. Lockwood is quite naive, of which fact he appears unaware, simultaneously rather pompous, and recounting

2752-399: The narrator may be conscious of telling the story to a given audience, perhaps at a given place and time, for a given reason. A story written in the first person is most often told by the main character, but may also be told from the perspective of a less important character as they witness events, or a person retelling a story they were told by someone else. First-person narration presents

2816-424: The narrator unintentionally absent or unreliable for certain key events. Specific events may further be colored or obscured by a narrator's background since non-omniscient characters must by definition be laypersons and foreigners to some circles, and limitations such as poor eyesight and illiteracy may also leave important blanks. Another consideration is how much time has elapsed between when the character experienced

2880-472: The nephew of the Governor's wife. When Percy is offered an administrative position at the nearby Briar Ridge psychiatric hospital , Paul thinks they are finally rid of him. However, Percy refuses to leave until he is allowed to supervise an execution, so Paul hesitantly allows him to run Del's. Percy deliberately avoids soaking a sponge in brine that is supposed to be tucked inside the electrode cap to ensure

2944-453: The novel into a screenplay for a feature film of the same name . Released in 1999, the film was directed by Darabont and stars Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecombe and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey. The setting is changed from 1932 to 1935 in order to include the film Top Hat , which does not appear in the book. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards , including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Duncan. The Green Mile

3008-510: The novel, tells his own story: "What memories and thoughts crowd into my mind, as, at the threshold of the afternoon of my wandering life, I sit down to write the story of its morning hours!" This device allows the audience to see the narrator's mind's eye view of the fictional universe , but it is limited to the narrator's experiences and awareness of the true state of affairs. In some stories, first-person narrators may relay dialogue with other characters or refer to information they heard from

3072-400: The other characters, in order to try to deliver a larger point of view. Other stories may switch the narrator to different characters to introduce a broader perspective. An unreliable narrator is one that has completely lost credibility due to ignorance, poor insight, personal biases, mistakes, dishonesty, etc., which challenges the reader's initial assumptions. An example of the telling of

3136-464: The other characters. It can seem like third-person omniscient at times. A reasonable explanation fitting the mechanics of the story's world is generally provided or inferred unless its glaring absence is a major plot point. Three notable examples are The Book Thief by Markus Zusak , where the narrator is Death , From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler , where the narrator is

3200-440: The other made a noise, using their love for each other. Paul is unsure how to help John, but John tells him not to worry, as he is ready to die anyway, wanting to escape the cruelty of the world. John's execution is the last one in which Paul participates. As Paul approaches the conclusion of his written story, he offers it to his friend Elaine Connelly to read. After she finishes doing so, he introduces Mr Jingles to her just before

3264-582: The role of Leo Knox in the television series Bones (2011) and its spin-off The Finder (2012). He also had voice roles in films, including Brother Bear (2003), Kung Fu Panda (2008), and Green Lantern (2011); he had the voice role of Benjamin King in the video game Saints Row (2006). Duncan was born in Chicago and raised in a single-parent household with his sister Judy by his mother Jean Duncan (a house cleaner) after his father left. When he

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3328-738: The same event. The first-person narrator may be the principal character (e.g., Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels ), someone very close to them who is privy to their thoughts and actions ( Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes stories) or one who closely observes the principal character (such as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby ). These can be distinguished as "first-person major" or "first-person minor" points of view. Narrators can report others' narratives at one or more removes. These are called "frame narrators": examples are Mr. Lockwood,

3392-457: The spinoff series The Finder . The Bones Season 8 episode " The Partners in the Divorce ", which aired three weeks after his death, was dedicated to him. During the week of May 14, 2012, Duncan appeared as a guest on the late night talk show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson when the show was taping for a week in Scotland. Duncan was one of the show's more frequent guests, appearing

3456-473: The thoughts and feelings of others around him. One night, the guards drug Wharton, then put a straitjacket on Percy and lock him in the padded restraint room so that they can smuggle John out of prison and take him to the home of Warden Hal Moores. Hal's wife Melinda has an inoperable brain tumor , which John cures. When they return to the Mile, John passes the "disease" from Melinda into Percy, causing him to go mad and shoot Wharton to death before falling into

3520-550: The time of his death, Duncan was dating reality television personality Omarosa Manigault . His family later claimed that Omarosa changed his will and testament . They also claimed that Omarosa manipulated Duncan in his final days, lied about their engagement, and sold his belongings without the family's knowledge. In 2013, Manigault appeared in the cast of The All-Star Celebrity Apprentice and played in Duncan's honor for his favorite charity and one he had benefited from himself,

3584-552: The titular Cleon "Slammin ' " Salmon in Broken Lizard 's farce The Slammin' Salmon . With his deep, resonant voice, Duncan did voice roles for films such as Brother Bear (2003) and its sequel Brother Bear 2 (2006), Kung Fu Panda (2008), and Green Lantern (2011); playing the voice of Kilowog from DC Comics alongside Ryan Reynolds . His other voice roles include TV series such as Loonatics Unleashed and Operation: Z.E.R.O. , Quiznos commercials, and

3648-425: The titular character but is describing the story of the main characters, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold , where a young girl, having been killed, observes, from some post-mortem, extracorporeal viewpoint, her family's struggle to cope with her disappearance. Typically, however, the narrator restricts the events relayed in the narrative to those that could reasonably be known. In autobiographical fiction ,

3712-488: Was Willis' influence that helped him to get his breakout role as gentle giant John Coffey in the Frank Darabont film The Green Mile (1999). Starring with Tom Hanks , Duncan's performance netted him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role , and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture . Following his role as Coffey, Duncan

3776-451: Was first published in six paperback volumes. The first, subtitled The Two Dead Girls was published on March 28, 1996, with new volumes following monthly until the final volume, Coffey on the Mile , was released on August 29, 1996. The novel was republished as a single paperback volume on May 5, 1997. On October 3, 2000, the book was published in its first hardcover edition ( ISBN   978-0743210898 ). In 2007, Subterranean Press released

3840-469: Was killed in 1997 , Duncan quit the personal-protection business. After having begun his career with several bit parts playing bouncers in films such as Bulworth and A Night at the Roxbury , Duncan came to prominence when he was cast as Bear in the blockbuster Michael Bay action film Armageddon (1998). During the production of the film, Duncan became friends with castmate Bruce Willis , and it

3904-596: Was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and other honors, and for playing Kingpin in Daredevil and Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (both 2003). He also appeared in movies such as Armageddon (1998), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), Planet of the Apes (2001), The Scorpion King (2002), Sin City (2005), and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), as well as in

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3968-517: Was stealing a baseball bat from the dugout. Duncan took various security jobs in Los Angeles while trying to get some acting and modelling work in commercials. During this time, he worked as a bodyguard for celebrities like Will Smith , Martin Lawrence , Jamie Foxx , LL Cool J , and The Notorious B.I.G. , all the while doing bit parts in television and films. When rapper Notorious B.I.G.

4032-457: Was then cast in a string of films that helped to establish him as an actor in both action and comedy roles: The Whole Nine Yards (2000), See Spot Run (2001), Planet of the Apes (2001), The Scorpion King (2002), Daredevil (2003), and in the latter movie, he played Kingpin . When Duncan was cast as Kingpin in 2002, he faced the dual challenge of portraying a typically white character, having to gain 40 pounds (18 kg) to fit

4096-686: Was younger, he wanted to play football, and tried out for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), but decided to become an actor instead, when his mother refused to let him play, fearing he would get injured. He always wanted to act, but had to drop out of the communication program at Alcorn State University to support his family when his mother became ill. Duncan's large frame—6 feet 5 inches (196 cm) and 315 pounds (143 kg)—helped him in his jobs digging ditches for Peoples Gas Company and as

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