Something that Confused Me:

[Dances_in_Underwear]

Okay, maybe you guys can help me better understand this, I mean, you are a smart bunch . What was it that John Coffey gave to Paul Edgecomb and Mr. Jingles that made them live so long? It couldn't be that he healed them because then that would mean that Hal's wife Meilinda would live a really long time too, and Paul mentions that she died at an appropriate age.

So what was it? Is it something intangible that is not mentioned in the novel? Is it a plot hole? Help me out here! Lol

[wally wonder]

i dunno...why presume they owe their longevity to john?...although, yeah, i can see the point. maybe it had something to do w/fear...just shooting in the dark here...jingles shows up, a mystery, no fear, oil drop eyes, accepted by one, rejected by another, like john, a mystery, tired of the voices, tired of being in the dark, ready to move on to something else. dunno, that suggests that they can't hear the voices that john heard. why, if he gave them longevity, didn't the attendant hearing also come with it?...so john shows up, like jingles, accepted?...probably at points in his life, rejected? yeah, big time.

another thing, jingles goes through the motions, fetches, does what is expected of him, and doesn't paul do that, as well...whew, tired, off track...i dunno. i'd say that cause john touched paul more than once, that had an effect. and w/jingles, powerful ju-juu there, all things considered, and with melinda, it was a once time shot, not like prolonged exposure....but still shooting in the dark.

[magda]

Don't worry Dances_in_Underwear it wasn't said at all in the book. No one knows what it was - maybe even Stephen King himself. Well, but if one would like to try to analyze the book deeper, we can assume that, since John Coffey is said to be like Jesus Christ who died for our sins, he could give Paul "immortality" like Jesus will give his followers longevity and afterlife. Therefore, if we can call Coffey a Christ figure, so Paul can be called his follower, the one of the few who believed in him. Well, maybe my post is a little bit unclear, but I tried But still, even King admits that yes, John Coffey was supposed to be Jesus Christ - J.C. = J.C. - even innitials are the same.

[mstay]

I remember thinking that he gave them just a little bit of himself, of the magic that was in him. Mr. Jingles because John brought him back to life and Paul because John had to show him the whole story of what happened to him. Yes, it was intangible but it was enough to make them live a long, long time.

[GNTLGNT]

I've always felt that since Paul and Mr. Jingles were "special" to John-Paul for being kind and Mr. Jingles for his spirit, that John simply "blessed" them with some of his essence, in some unknown fashion. I took it on faith-no pun intended...

[Bryan James]

Paul got a blast when he got his tiddlybits fixed, and another when JC showed him what Billy done.

Mr. Jingles got two big blasts...one when he got uncrunched and another unintended one when Delacroix rode the lightning.

What did he give them? I dunno...but a side effect was a Time Innocuation.

(Comments based on the movie, years since I read the serial)

[HorrorMama]

(Comments based on the movie, years since I read the serial)

I saw the movie years ago and just recently read the serial novel. I would have been left feeling really empty if there was no film to explain small things like that--or to help make sense of small parts. Maybe not knowing wouldn't have made me feel empty, but now that I did see the movie I feel that way.

My SK collection is almost halfway through in I think less than a 2 month time frame. I didn't think I had an addictive personality before, but King did it to me. I go through two novels a week (bring one everywhere I go).

[Timmy]

With Paul Edgecomb, John Coffey touched him TWICE. The first time was to heal the urinary infection. The second time, Paul went in to talk to Coffey, before his execution (as he does with all prisoners - but, he also knew that Coffey was innocent and was asking what to do...). Coffey said it was ok, that he wanted to die, but then touched him. There were no bugs flying out of his mouth (because Paul was healthy) and it wasn't the same as Coffey "normal" touch, but Edgecomb talks about how it effected him and was "out of it" for a little while. And before Paul left the cell, he did ask Coffey, "what did you do to me." It doesn't specifically say, but I think that is where Coffey gave him longer life... (and invincibility, to a certain degree - because he was not killed in the bus crash that took just about everyone else's life. He also says, in old age, that he rarely got sick, etc.). As for Mr. Jingles, I don't know. I only remember Coffey touching the mouse once. But, the mouse seemed special before Percy smashed him and Coffey healed him.

[kingzeppelin]

Okay, maybe you guys can help me better understand this, I mean, you are a smart bunch . What was it that John Coffey gave to Paul Edgecomb and Mr. Jingles that made them live so long? It couldn't be that he healed them because then that would mean that Hal's wife Meilinda would live a really long time too, and Paul mentions that she died at an appropriate age.



So what was it? Is it something intangible that is not mentioned in the novel? Is it a plot hole? Help me out here! Lol

I think that the reason that Paul & Mr Jingles got the "gift" of longevity and Hal's wife Melinda did not was that Big John "took" the tumour from her, whereas he "gave" to Mr J and Paul?

[Aceguy]

I believe that John took away the evil within them. The evil that is sickness, pain, and that prolonged their lives. Eventually their organs would fail not as sickness but because their bodies shut down. If their organs won't fail, then they will essentially be immortal. Those are just my views.