how old is john coffey?

[SharonaZamboni]

I'm also going with 33.

[vinividivicci]

My best guess would be that John Coffey was 33 years old at the time he was executed. I have always thought that John Coffey was an allusion to Jesus Christ by Sai King. The initials are the same. Just one little example.

I think there are a lot of parallels between Coffey and Jesus as well.

Paul asks what it is God wants from him after Coffey takes "back" his UT infection (a laying of hands healing characteristic of Jesus)

Paul is also the name of one of Jesus' followers, one of the first evangelists, and Paul in the "Green Mile" is compelled to tell his story or "evangelize"

Coffey went willingly to be sacrificed for a crime he didn't commit

The whipping scars are reminiscent of Christ last days

Bo Jingles resurrection brings to mind Lazarus' raised from the dead (which resulted in the spreading of Christ's teachings)

Etc etc.

Therefore, I think Coffey is meant to be the same age as Jesus at his crucifixion (32 - 34 is generally accepted)

[Slim Hippo]

me and my friends have been debateing how old john coffey is. he is probley more than 108, how old paul edcomb(tom hanks) is. also he has lots of scars which look like whip scars. So i recon over 150.

I think what James was referring to was the way JC "gave something" from deep inside himself to Paul so that Paul could see what the Kid had done to the 2 girls. If JC could give that something to PE, he must have had it himself. And since PE lived practically to the age of Methusalah, why wouldn't JC have done the same, only even more so?

Ergo, it makes total sense that JC could be any age at all. He could be 200+ years old. But then again, he could still just be in his 30s. Because even if he was going to live to 200+, Ole Sparky cut that short.

JM2C

Slim

[Captain_Ambiguous]

I think what James was referring to was the way JC "gave something" from deep inside himself to Paul so that Paul could see what the Kid had done to the 2 girls. If JC could give that something to PE, he must have had it himself. And since PE lived practically to the age of Methusalah, why wouldn't JC have done the same, only even more so?

Ergo, it makes total sense that JC could be any age at all. He could be 200+ years old. But then again, he could still just be in his 30s. Because even if he was going to live to 200+, Ole Sparky cut that short.

JM2C

Slim

I haven't read the book, I've just seen the movie like 6 times but I too came to wonder if John Coffey could be hundreds of years old. I mean if the piece of himself he gave Paul made him half immortal it only stands to reason he himself could be far older.
There's a scene in the movie, I don't know if it's in the original book, where the warden's wife asks him how he got his scars and he answers "I don't hardly remember ma'am". Now there's a few ways to interpret that but it brings up the possibility that he really did get those scars as a slave before the civil war or in some other faraway time and place.
I'd like to think in the context of the story that John Coffey and perhaps others like him were set on the Earth by God as part of a system of checks and balances. I like to speculate

[Mr. Jingles]

I think there are a lot of parallels between Coffey and Jesus as well.

Paul asks what it is God wants from him after Coffey takes "back" his UT infection (a laying of hands healing characteristic of Jesus)

Paul is also the name of one of Jesus' followers, one of the first evangelists, and Paul in the "Green Mile" is compelled to tell his story or "evangelize"

Coffey went willingly to be sacrificed for a crime he didn't commit

The whipping scars are reminiscent of Christ last days

Bo Jingles resurrection brings to mind Lazarus' raised from the dead (which resulted in the spreading of Christ's teachings)

Etc etc.

Therefore, I think Coffey is meant to be the same age as Jesus at his crucifixion (32 - 34 is generally accepted)

Wow, I never thought of it that way before. Huh. I certainly learned something new today, thanks for the wonderful post!

[mr.jingles120]

in the book it said he got the scars at a young age probaly from being black in those times

[mr.jingles120]

[kittykiller]

I agree that coffey was a younger man of his thirtys only he may have lived to be much older if he were not to be exicuted. and paul was cursed for knowing the power that coffey had been inpowered with for that was somthing that was not to be shared with the normal's. but nun the less he was younger. and wounds heal, scars fade but ledgends live forever. hahaha.

[Ebony]

in the book it said he got the scars at a young age probaly from being black in those times

Yes, but maybe some of these scars were inflicted by the harm he took from other people...when he met Melinda, I just thought he would get another scar, because her disease (or the situation) was described as a kind of "demon" who made her act like she did.
I also wondered why the execution was so successful. Makes me believe that he´d never used his "gift" to heal himself or to prevent the execution.
Poor old John.

[linoula]

I have head the same thing. He has 33 years old.