The last moment

Overview of the novel Has anyone ever thought about what the condition of a person sentenced to death in the last moments of their life would be? "Old Sparky or Big Joe" is not a man and not an old man, it is the electric chair, this is what the inmates of the state prison in Cold Mountain called it, those sentenced to death mocking their thirst for death. In his novel "The Last Moment," Stephen King describes the state of the electric chair's clients in their last moments before execution, the moment their eyelids are fixed to the two wooden oak-like stands of Old Sparky, and they are aware of their death from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads, in addition to a black silk bag resting on their heads as soon as they finish their flailing. On one hand, the reader finds himself facing an in-depth psychological and social study, skillfully crafted by the author through an exciting plot, a sequential narrative style for the characters of the novel, and his presentation of these characters, men and women, accompanying them in their last moments before sitting on the "Old Sparky" electric chair, living with them their feelings and last desires, in a deep analysis of the reasons behind their crimes until the moment of their execution. These are real characters, people deprived of the blessing of life for one reason or another, embraced by Old Sparky "the electric chair" to end their lives. The events of the novel take place in Block "E" during the days when the state prison was still in Cold Mountain, where the electric chair was still there too. "It is a wonderful stay for a prison (especially in the thirties)," as described by Paul Edgecombe, the supervisor of the six cells that were filled with inmates (in Cold Mountain, there was no racial segregation between the living and the dead). The novel begins with a woman named "Beverly McCull," an inmate of one of the six cells, as black as night and as beautiful as a sin that you cannot bear to commit. She killed her husband after discovering his infidelity. Her last dream before being embraced by Old Sparky was to get rid of the slavery name she bears and to die with the name Tomi. I told her, "Yes, okay, no problem." If years of service taught me anything, it is never to refuse a request from someone sentenced to death unless I am absolutely forced to — says the prison supervisor. The characters continue to tell the story, including John Coffey, who was as black as most of the men who came to stay in Block "E" for a period before death in the arms of Old Sparky. Broad-shouldered, with a wide chest, and standing two meters tall, weighing 100 kilograms, like all prisoners, Percy Whetmore, the prison supervisor, continued to describe him with what should be a traditional phrase: "a dead man walking! A dead man walking!" The reason for his presence in Block "E" and his death sentence was his rape and murder of the twins, Dietrich. In a dramatic plot, the author describes – Klaus, the father of the two dead girls – when he threw himself, shouting, toward the monster who raped and murdered his daughters, when Klaus's body flew and he launched a kick to Coffey's head, the criminal. In an exciting and sad narrative style, the scene is described by a journalist named Hammer before the trial begins... where Coffey's tears were flowing as if someone had forgotten an open faucet inside him. "They were like animal eyes that had never seen a human before," what happened? John Coffey asked, and the answer was before the jury while holding the bodies of the two naked, violated girls, lifeless in his arms: "I couldn't stop this thing inside me." Tears began to flow as he added, "I tried to stop myself... but it was too late!" It is an enjoyable novel, rich in events, diverse details, and multiple characters, in a tightly built world with solid foundations and details. Through the author's construction of these characters and his narration of their paths and movements, he conveyed to us a realistic picture of that time (the 1930s), influenced by social, psychological, and life circumstances and their effects on shaping the human psyche and the reasons for its deviation. It is a picture of a bygone era, but we still see in our contemporary reality images of those characters, albeit in a different form, due to the difference in time and place. Good and evil continue to clash as long as life remains on this earth.