The Green Mile Sparknotes

In The Green Mile by Stephen King, there happens to be two men who like to have total control over the situation. The men that can take control, Brutus Howell and Paul Edgecombe, do an extremely good job, but Edgecombe has more of the F personality which becomes handy when dealing with his situation. Brutus Howell, also called Brutal, can be forceful when needed. Howell’s size helps when he needs to be forceful when handling difficult prisoners. Brutal obtains a few essential authoritarian traits that help out when needed, but not otherwise. After Howell and his co-workers successfully get John Coffey out of the prison and to Warden Moores’ house, Paul fails to talk to Moores. As soon as the Warden points his gun at the men and Coffey,
Howell screams “Stop it Warden!” and courageously steps in front of Moores’ target, John Coffey (396). Subsequently, Howell takes a hold of the tense situation by explaining why they came at such a god awful hour. In times of stress, Howell shows that he can take charge of difficult situations under pressure, an area in which Edgecombe froze up. Howell might work well under pressure, but Edgecombe can handle daily problems.
Almost everyone in the prison, excluding some of the inmates and Percy, respects Edgecombe as the main boss. He hates situations in which the outcome can be ambiguous. Breaking John Coffey out of the prison made Edgecombe shaky, as well as the people helping him. None of the workers had been completely sure if they would make it back or if they would be locked up for helping a criminal out of the Cold Mountain prison. Edgecombe failed to lead his group in a spot-on situation, but he made sure to take care of all the other problems they had encountered. Edgecombe can be perceived as neither a pushover, nor a tyrant. After taking care of all the risky business, one last hurdle remains standing for the men. Edgecombe prepares to take care of Percy, who definitely would nark if anything seemed out of place. As soon as Edgecombe gets back, he takes control of the untouchable Percy by putting him in his place right at the start. When Percy resists, Edgecombe slaps him so hard where the “sharp snap” sound echoed through the halls “like a breaking branch” (441). While Percy recovered from shock, Edgecombe told him exactly how Percy is going to behave and what would happen if he did not follow his
instructions. Edgecombe caught Percy at his weakest moment making sure to get his point across. All the workers who helped out Edgecombe acted submissively to the authority that Edgecombe displayed. Edgecombe explains to Percy that if he tells, with a voice of aggressive authorization, everyone will reveal how Percy “sabotaged the Delacroix execution,” and how he “almost got Dean killed” due to his carelessness (442). Edgecombe blackmailed Percy enough to leave him flabbergasted. Everyone admired Edgecombe’s initiative personality and for finally putting Percy in his place. Paul Edgecombe from The Green Mile, by Stephen King, definitely shows the trait of authority displaying that he is capable of taking charge. Edgecombe’s F personality earns him respect from certain workers and inmates on the mile as the boss in many situations as compared to Brutus Howell’s one incidence of authority.