Like Children Walking Along with a Captured Bear (Simile)
Paul narrates as Percy and Harry escort John Coffey into the E Block. Coffey is the biggest man Paul has ever seen. To emphasize his size, Paul uses a simile saying the guards “looked like children walking along with a captured bear.” The image conjures up the ridiculousness of children leading a captured bear, illustrating just how big the size difference is. However, comparing Coffey, a Black man, to an animal also dehumanizes him and reveals the racial context of the South in the 1930s.
I’d Tweak the Devil’s Nose (Metaphor)
Paul hates working with Percy Wetmore, a sadistic and incompetent guard. Warden Moores suggests that Paul let Percy take an active part in Delacroix’s execution. Moores believes Percy wants hands-on experience with an execution, and that having one will satisfy him enough to leave the prison and take a different job. Paul is extremely hesitant, feeling almost positive that Percy will find a way to mess things up. However, he finally agrees, saying, “If it would get rid of Percy Wetmore, I’d tweak the devil’s nose.” The metaphor means that Paul would take almost any risk if it means getting Percy out of the prison.
Like Blood from a Wound That Can Never Heal (Simile)
Coffey cries frequently. As Paul says, “That John Coffey whose eyes were always streaming tears, like blood from a wound that can never heal.” In this simile, Paul compares Coffey’s crying to a wound that is constantly bleeding, and unable to scab over and heal. There are physical and emotional wounds and ever since the murder of the Detterick girls, Coffey has not been the same. He carries a grief so deep that perhaps it cannot heal.
There Isn’t a Culvert in the World (Metaphor)
After Coffey heals Paul’s urinary infection, Paul reflects on the nature of what happened. Paul does not think the power to heal comes from Coffey himself. Rather, he believes that Coffey is nothing more than a conduit for God’s miracles. He maintains his opinion that Coffey is a simple man of low intelligence, commenting that he probably already forgot that he healed Paul. Paul elaborates, “He was nothing but a conduit, after all, and there isn’t a culvert in the world that remembers the water that flowed through it once the rain has stopped.” Paul is comparing Coffey to a culvert, which is a tunnel that carries a stream or open drain under a road. The water flowing through the culvert is the magic or healing capabilities that Coffey channels. In this sense, Paul is saying that Coffey is merely the channel through which miracles flow and as soon as they are over he forgets all about them.
Laughing Like a Kid at a Carnival (Simile)
Wharton, also known as Wild Bill to the guards, relishes wreaking havoc. After Wharton urinates on Harry’s pants, Paul describes how Wharton “was laughing like a kid at a carnival.” Wharton gets so much enjoyment out of causing trouble that he’s as happy as a child who is at a carnival. Even the threat of being punished, for he is sure to be put in the restraint room, does not dampen Wharton’s joy. He is laughing so hard that tears are rolling down his cheeks, and seems to feel no remorse for his actions.
