Jenny Escalante
English 1301.221 W E
Ms. Stacey Burleson
November 14, 2007
Jenny’s Essay 4 Ideas

Social Issues
There are three social issues seen throughout the novel, The Green Mile by Stephen King.
The first social issue is the most obvious--the death penalty. Paul has killed many men at the prison. Sometimes the executions go smoothly and sometimes they don’t. Edward Declacroix caught on fire and his eyes burst. He did burn six people but did he really deserve that? John Coffey was innocent yet he still met his fate in “Old Sparky”. The death penalty punishes bad people but sometimes innocent people pay the ultimate price for justice.
The second social issue is people like Percy Wetmore, the scum of society who makes life impossible for everyone else. Percy is such a pain that Paul compares him to Brad Dolan, a man who bothers him at the retirement home. Percy beats the prisoners, causes Declacroix’s mishap, and does whatever he feels like at the prison.
The third social issue is that Paul never actually tries to set John Coffey free. He knows John is innocent from the very beginning. He knows Coffey is different from the rest. Paul goes through a lot of time and trouble to get information on John, but never tells the warden.
The social issues in the novel are the fairness of the death penalty, people who do no good in the world, and the lack of courage to do what is right.