God replies, "I don't care."

[wally wonder]

Did a re-read of the green mile this weekend past. real tear-jerker, hey? But am a bit troubled by those who "don't care" in the green mile. God, for one. The big guy doesn't care. page 535 my pb copy. and that wharton fellow, the weird one, he just doesn't care. that phrase is used a number of times to describe that wharton guy.

little aside here while i try to find the other quote to do with 'doesn't care." the green mile is one of about four or five novels w/that fascinating phrase, "what in the blue fook was that about!" Anderson roared. or some variation on that theme. dark tower. eddie says it. tommyknockers, i believe. others.

gosh. can't find the other "doesn't care" quote. but it applied to john coffey. i think maybe it had to do w/memory. he'd forget things. didn't seem to let things bother him too much. but that's not right, because he heard them screaming and he did care and he cried. lots.

anyway, i'll come back to this. but did anyone else pick up on that "doesn't care" idea? william wharton, the weirdo, doesn't care. God, doesn't care.
J.C. but his "doesn't care" seems to apply to memory.

there's stuff about memory in there, too. and writing. trying to get a handle on it all, so any direction would be appreciated. :y:

[wally wonder]

Found that other place where the phrase, he didn’t care, is used to describe a character, in this case, john coffey, and paul our narrator is doing the describing, this just after john coffeey helped him, paul, by curing his problem going potty. He asks jc, how he helped it. Jc just gives the old head shake and lies down on his bunk. part 3, coffey’s hands, chapter 3 of that part. Jc is “an enigma wrapped in a mystery” so thinks paul, ‘that’s what john coffey was, and I suppose the only reason he could sleep at night was because he didn’t care.’

‘knew his name and knew it wasn’t spelled like the drink, and that was just about all he cared to know.’

Toward the end, as paul is looking back over the pages he wrote, wondering if there is some meaning there and then he gets into that bit about how that weirdo wharton was able to kill the detterick twins, cause of their love for each other, and paul concludes, ‘if it happens, got lets it happen and when we say I don’t understand god replies I don’t care.

Wharton is described as a con who just doesn’t care. Happens earlier in the story. The words are underlined even. Had to do a double take at that, make sure it wasn’t something I’d underlined on a previous read. Pretty sure it was printed that way.

What to make of it all. Do you care? I think jc did care, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten all weepy like he did at times. And I don’t agree w/paul’s assessment that god doesn’t care. Wharton, yeah, he didn’t care. Don’t know what to make of it.

Why is it that both wharton and john coffey, as well as god, are described that way. They didn’t care. Seems like there’s degrees of difference among the three. I don’t know.

[Patricia A]

Well I'm not sure if I'm catching all of what you mean, but it really sucks when the people/Gods who are in charge of you "just don't care."
It's agonizing when you feel like you are in the hands of someone who doesn't give a crap about you whether it's true or not.
Maybe that's the gist. :eyebrow:

[thymeoperator]

i'm not sure what you mean with this post. there are a hell of a lot of people in the world who don't care though, so i can see why they'd make their way into stories? sorry, could be off on what you mean.

[wally wonder]

i dunno. i'm not as troubled by it as i was when i read it this past week. all those folk "not caring". john coffey, god, the wharton weirdo. i wish i could reach a point where i don't care, not in the way wharton didn't care, and who really knows about god anyway, but maybe like coffey. thing is, he cared. so i didn't see where paul got off describing him as "not caring". the description is coupled with memory, i think. coffey forgot things soon enough, but the voices were always there, reminding him of stuff. i dunno. gonna have to think on it some. try to get a handle on it. thank you! :y:

[MadamMack]

i dunno. i'm not as troubled by it as i was when i read it this past week. all those folk "not caring". john coffey, god, the wharton weirdo. i wish i could reach a point where i don't care, not in the way wharton didn't care, and who really knows about god anyway, but maybe like coffey. thing is, he cared. so i didn't see where paul got off describing him as "not caring". the description is coupled with memory, i think. coffey forgot things soon enough, but the voices were always there, reminding him of stuff. i dunno. gonna have to think on it some. try to get a handle on it. thank you! :y:

Bluey we care about you and I've noticed for weeks that something is bothering you. If you stop caring or have tried to stop . . . you've given up. Don't give up. You close your heart when you stop caring. We miss you. If you need to talk you have my ear and my heart.

I know God. I'm not 'saved' or what one would call a devoted follower. But Bluey I talk to Him daily and I know that He listens. I know He listens. And I know He will test you and even if you fail He'll still be there for you. At times it may not seem that way . . .but in time His actions will prove so.

Again, we miss you . . .you've made sure no one can reach out to you and that's your choice, but know that you can reach out to me.

:love:

[thymeoperator]

i don't know if not caring is always a bad thing. sometimes it's like...you're okay enough with things not to care what else goes on. the rest doesn't matter, because you're solid within yourself.

[wally wonder]

i think it matters, caring, and what you do about it. one thing that troubled me when i read this (re-read, actually) is that paul could have changed the outcome for that french fella, forget his name, but he was the guy who the mouse was looking for. he was pals w/the mouse.

and when they did him, i think paul could have done something to change the outcome. he could have said, hey whoa now, that fool (that other guy, the idiot, forgot his name, too) but he was the one who was supposed to wet the sponge, didn't, cause he was an a$$hole. but paul could have done something. did paul get to the point where he didn't care? paul cared. why didn't he do something? he could have. he could have stopped it and done something. troublesome.

or is it a matter of all that stuff weighing you down. carrying a heavy load, boss. and you get to the point where the weight is just too much. so you go along to get along. no easy answers, are there?

[ShootDaSquirrells]

God cares he just works in mysterious ways. Paul just doesn't understand. Coffey himself said he wanted to go because there is too much hatred in the world and all. Coffey was suffering on Earth so God took him.

Anyways, not caring is too prevalent in the world to look at that as something prevalent or symbolic. I think stephen king just liked that phrase to describe while he wrote the book.

[Bryan James]

Crane wrote some good stuff, but this is the most appropriate for this thread:

A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."
-- Stephen Crane

In other words, "Good for you, do what you will...I don't care. I might not even watch too much of it. Maybe I'll check in at halftime."

BJS

[thymeoperator]

i think if you look at it from that angle, you could say God works in mysterious ways and...Coffey doesn't care that he doesn't understand those ways, he's accepted it and is fine with it.

[Dr. Fudd]

Man says, "God replies, I don't care." God says, I care in ways you can't comprehend. (Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.") John 3:16:"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Stephen King aside, Is this God not caring for you or your lack of understanding of what is "caring"?

[wally wonder]

different kinds of caring, i think. yeah, that's me in the stands, holding up the sign, "keep reading". that, or "john 3:17" in the mile, i'd noticed the use of the word "care". john coffey, paul recollects, "did not care" so he was able to sleep at night. that nutball "just didn't care" and so he did anything. paul thought, or wrote, "god replies, i don't care."

i think maybe paul is wrong about john coffey. jc does care, which is why he weeps at night. he hears the voices. the screwball...well, what can one say about the screwball?

i was reading in secret windows, that book that's supposed to be some kind of companion piece to on writing, and sk touched on the green mile in one of those write-ups. maybe he was talking to an audience at a college or something...trying to get a handle on paul is what it be about i guess. paul. did he care? did he care about the wrong things? like when they fried that french guy. he could have done something, but i'll hazard he cared too much about the process, he cared not to upset the process and the process went bad.

i don't think he understood jc, not completely. jc is an enigma to him. i think he even says so himself.

anyway, i think sk said something about "the death penalty" in this talk. for/against/whatever. said something like a bundy won't do it again. be sure, witnesses, that kind of thing. so, maybe the g.p. is a bit like paul, they don't want to upset the process, though the process can go bad wrong at times.

i dunno. there's no justice in this world as the man down at the end of the road said, guy who pulled out a shotgun shell and showed it to me. no justice.

[vinividivicci]

wow, never really thought about it when I read the book, but I think this "not caring" theme in the book is probably what made me so sad that I cried.

I cared, and I was actually pretty upset. I knew/know people like Percy and Paul and so many times no one does anything to right a wrong. I was upset, because the characters portray real life all too closely, and the events unfolding in black and white made it so plainly clear why we need to care.

I think when people do uncaring acts, the cumulative effect may appear that "God doesn't care" but I don't think that is the reality. I think "God doesn't care" is another way of saying that something is not right, don't know exactly what it is, don't know what to do about it, but we are hurting, someone help us please.

"No, you can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
And if you try sometime you find
You get what you need" - Rolling Stones

[aptpupil]

I wanted to make a smartass comment for this thread, but nothing springs easily to mind.

I guess that I just don't care! :wink2:

[Starshadow]

Found that other place where the phrase, he didn’t care, is used to describe a character, in this case, john coffey, and paul our narrator is doing the describing, this just after john coffeey helped him, paul, by curing his problem going potty. He asks jc, how he helped it. Jc just gives the old head shake and lies down on his bunk. part 3, coffey’s hands, chapter 3 of that part. Jc is “an enigma wrapped in a mystery” so thinks paul, ‘that’s what john coffey was, and I suppose the only reason he could sleep at night was because he didn’t care.’

‘knew his name and knew it wasn’t spelled like the drink, and that was just about all he cared to know.’

Toward the end, as paul is looking back over the pages he wrote, wondering if there is some meaning there and then he gets into that bit about how that weirdo wharton was able to kill the detterick twins, cause of their love for each other, and paul concludes, ‘if it happens, got lets it happen and when we say I don’t understand god replies I don’t care.

Wharton is described as a con who just doesn’t care. Happens earlier in the story. The words are underlined even. Had to do a double take at that, make sure it wasn’t something I’d underlined on a previous read. Pretty sure it was printed that way.

What to make of it all. Do you care? I think jc did care, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten all weepy like he did at times. And I don’t agree w/paul’s assessment that god doesn’t care. Wharton, yeah, he didn’t care. Don’t know what to make of it.

Why is it that both wharton and john coffey, as well as god, are described that way. They didn’t care. Seems like there’s degrees of difference among the three. I don’t know.
I think John Coffey didn't care because it was just too much. Imagine hearing the thoughts and feeling the feelings all around you. Of course he was always crying in prison. Especially with Wharton there. To hear that all the time, and you know Wharton was one sick puppy.

Wharton didn't care because he didn't. Not for anyone but himself. Had no regard for decency, either.

As to God not caring... I sometimes look back at my life and think it's proof. The situation our country is in, and the people who caused it call themselves followers of God, the people who can fix it and don't call themselves followers of God. Someone either doesn't have any kind of line in, or God really doesn't care.

[wally wonder]

I think John Coffey didn't care because it was just too much. Imagine hearing the thoughts and feeling the feelings all around you. Of course he was always crying in prison. Especially with Wharton there. To hear that all the time, and you know Wharton was one sick puppy.

Wharton didn't care because he didn't. Not for anyone but himself. Had no regard for decency, either.

As to God not caring... I sometimes look back at my life and think it's proof. The situation our country is in, and the people who caused it call themselves followers of God, the people who can fix it and don't call themselves followers of God. Someone either doesn't have any kind of line in, or God really doesn't care.


hi starshadow. have you read udt yet? some interesting ideas there about the nature of god. everything does certainly seem turned upside down and inside out. you gotta wonder about job, you know, from the bible. and the goings on there. who's keeping miss emily company? and if the devil and the preacher go walking side by side, what's to prevent other diverse pairings? :devil: :kungfu: hearts in atlantis, too, connected seems like. too many going along to get along. i duno anymore.

[Dr. Fudd]

I think John Coffey didn't care because it was just too much. Imagine hearing the thoughts and feeling the feelings all around you. Of course he was always crying in prison. Especially with Wharton there. To hear that all the time, and you know Wharton was one sick puppy.

Wharton didn't care because he didn't. Not for anyone but himself. Had no regard for decency, either.

As to God not caring... I sometimes look back at my life and think it's proof. The situation our country is in, and the people who caused it call themselves followers of God, the people who can fix it and don't call themselves followers of God. Someone either doesn't have any kind of line in, or God really doesn't care.


You can't blame the state of the country on God. God cares, but he can't overcome our free will. But you can definetly blame it on religious hypocrites. Read the Old Testament, this is just another repeat of the last 4,000 years.

[Wordslinger2]

Found that other place where the phrase, he didn’t care, is used to describe a character, in this case, john coffey, and paul our narrator is doing the describing, this just after john coffeey helped him, paul, by curing his problem going potty. He asks jc, how he helped it. Jc just gives the old head shake and lies down on his bunk. part 3, coffey’s hands, chapter 3 of that part. Jc is “an enigma wrapped in a mystery” so thinks paul, ‘that’s what john coffey was, and I suppose the only reason he could sleep at night was because he didn’t care.’

‘knew his name and knew it wasn’t spelled like the drink, and that was just about all he cared to know.’

Toward the end, as paul is looking back over the pages he wrote, wondering if there is some meaning there and then he gets into that bit about how that weirdo wharton was able to kill the detterick twins, cause of their love for each other, and paul concludes, ‘if it happens, got lets it happen and when we say I don’t understand god replies I don’t care.
Wharton is described as a con who just doesn’t care. Happens earlier in the story. The words are underlined even. Had to do a double take at that, make sure it wasn’t something I’d underlined on a previous read. Pretty sure it was printed that way.

What to make of it all. Do you care? I think jc did care, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten all weepy like he did at times. And I don’t agree w/paul’s assessment that god doesn’t care. Wharton, yeah, he didn’t care. Don’t know what to make of it.

Why is it that both wharton and john coffey, as well as god, are described that way. They didn’t care. Seems like there’s degrees of difference among the three. I don’t know.

John cared too much, that is why he was always crying, all those hurts he could feel, and could do nothing about. It was too much for him and while Paul and all those good men with him cared a great deal about John they could do nothing to stop his execution. In the end, John did not want to continue living because all that hurt he felt was too much.

Percy and Wild Bill Wharton are the kind that take what God gave them and use it for their own needs/wants/desires and in the end are small evil little men who get what they deserve.

God is the Great There Not There- he made us, and then set us loose to see what we would do. It's the whole free will argument again.

[Mr. Jingles]

If there is a phrase that I do not like, it's "I don't care". Oh, you care. Whether it be anger, happiness or indifference that you feel, you care. Any emotion involves "caring", whether it be negative or positive.

There are negatives and positives in this book, which shows us life is not always a tea party, that it can be cruel and unfair. But look at the positives! John took away Melinda's tumor, Paul's bladder infection, and Wharton (he was horrible, so I think he deserved it). King just shows us examples of caring. I think Paul made the right decision by executing John, because as someone else mentioned in an earlier post, John wanted his suffering to be done. As twisted as it may seem, that was a caring act, as well.

I think our job is to embrace the good and the bad. How it works out all depends on what we do with it.

[Shadow0475]

Maybe I'm misinterpreting, but I took the line to mean something a little Different:
"...and when we say 'I don't understand', God replies 'I don't care'..."
I didn't take this to mean that Paul thinks that God doesn't care about us, but that he believes that God doesn't care about our lack of Understanding of His plan. Because, we aren't equipped to understand the Big Picture.
Or am I just splitting hairs?

[omm poppa mow mow]

Booya! Thank you!

[1BachmanKing9]

For what God's done for me personally I have no doubt He cares very much.

Sorry I don't know what this post is about either. There are people much quicker of wit than I who probably do.