Finding Virtue and Vice in "The Shawshank Redemption" Essay

Imagine someone close that’s lived the straight and narrow to get where they are at. They are not perfect, maybe they could have put a little more time into their assignment at work or held their temper towards the grandpa driving too slow in front of them, but they’re just human living life the best way they know how. When a not-so-freak accident occurs and they find themselves behind bars imprisoned for the rest of their life. Sounds like the plot to “Shawshank Redemption” right? At this very instance, this story is being told of ordinary citizens behind the curtains of the New York Court System in rapidly increasing numbers. What may seem like an isolated incident is part of an ever-growing

The other theme of freedom comes in both the film and the story, when Andy Dufresne got beer for all of the crew that tarred the prison's roof. In this example, even Red stated that the break "lasted twenty minutes, the beer-break, and for those twenty minutes we felt like free men."(48) Red recalls that the crew felt such freedom that they "could have been drinking beer and tarring the roof of one of our own houses."(48) This example serves the purposes of both the story's writer and the filmmaker because it shows the reader and/or viewer that this event happened because Andy wanted himself and his 'co-workers' to feel freedom. This event occurred because he made business dealings with "the hardest screw that ever walked a turn at the Shawshank State Prison" (48). Andy was always known to have something different to him, "a sense of his own worth,

In prison there are different levels of confinement and this was shown to play a big part in the prisoners life at Shawshank. If you were caught in the act of doing something against the rules or in Andy’s case, standing up to the warden, you were sent to solitarily confinement for a period of time. In the movie Andy spent two months in solitary with only bread and water to survive. This to me is a hell of a way to get what you want out of the inmates but some have nothing to lose so even solitary does not break them.

In Frank Darabont’s film Shawshank Redemption, the themes of isolation and hope are used to underscore the effects of imprisonment. However, the main characters Andy and Red perceive prison life and freedom very differently. First off, one of the key reasons Andy survived in prison is due to the hope he held. On the other hand, Red lost all hope of getting out of prison. Furthermore, life for both characters became quite different once they are released from prison.

In the novella “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” by Stephen King, banker Andy Dufresne is wrongfully convicted of murder and sent to Shawshank Prison. Andy’s shrewd nature and sense of self-worth become valuable tools that allow him to thrive in prison under the harsh authority of the warden, Samuel Norton. King uses Norton to demonstrate that corruption is present throughout society and that the perception of good and evil can be altered depending on who presents a story.

The Shawshank Redemption movie is about a man named Andy Dufresne who was falsely accused of murder and was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover. Being in jail, Andy faced many problems of being abused, but he also gained a strong friendship with a man named Red. Many of the things that the prisoners had to face showed a sociological perspective on how life was in jail and how it affected the prisoners. In Shawshank prison, the functionalism theory, the conflict perspective, and the control theory shows the life and adjustments a prisoner has to make in order to survive going into a new world.

knowing that Andy is vulnerable, gets him on the tar duty and seems to take him

The movie, Shawshank Redemption, is about a story of two men, Andy Dufrane and Red Abbott, who spent most of their lives in a prison together going through the ups and downs of prison life. Andy, who was once a vice-president at a bank, was in prison for murdering his wife and her lover, when he caught them in bed together; he was giving life in prison. Whereas Red, also a convicted murderer, got life but with a chance of parole. The two grew close to each other because they were both very educated men and had the same interests. After five years of doing the laundry, the warden thought it would in the prisons best interest to use such an educated man as Andy in the library. So they transferred Andy from the laundry to

A man by the name of Andy Dufresne was convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in Shawshank prison. He was an obvious black sheep among the prisoners, but as time went on he grew relationships with the crooks and realized the injustice in the justice system. In the creation of friendship between Red and Andy, hope was spread throughout the prison. While many themes are present in the film The Shawshank Redemption, hope, friendship, and injustice are also relevant in the world today.

Andy Defresne, who was falsely convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, was sentenced to a life sentence in federal prison. Andy’s determination in maintaining his own sense of self-worth and escaping keeps him from being constantly frustrated and feeling trapped in his confinement. Although, throughout his time he never lost one bit of hope

Andy Dufresne had absolutely no reason to have hope or determination. He was declared guilty of a crime he did not commit, and was sentenced to serve two life terms in prison, back to back. However, Andy was determined to find purpose in the mundane life of the prison, since he had the choice to “get busy living, or get busy dying” (Scene 293). On account of his education in finances, he received the opportunity to use his knowledge for the benefit of assisting the employees of Shawshank as well as attaining normalcy. This opportunity, along with many others assisted Andy in finding purpose in his life.

In the novella, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, the reader follows the life of Andy Dufresne, who was wrongly convicted of murdering his wife and a golf pro. Author Stephen King, who is known for his simpler, conversation esque writing, describes Andy’s experiences and attempt to escape from Shawshank Prison where he is being held. Red, Andy’s most valuable friend while in prison, is also in prison for killing his wife, but in contrast to Andy, he actually did it. Andy is constantly denied his freedom for parole or when evidence arises proving his innocence because of his role running the illegal money laundering scheme for Warden Norton. Throughout the novella, both characters display moments of similar, but also at times vastly different, levels of hope. King uses the way characters, such as Red and Andy, view hope as either a means of escape or simply futile in the novella to show how the circumstances surrounding a tragedy or difficult situation change a character’s mindset on hope and in turn dictates the actions they use to cope.

Andy always had something special about him and he developed a unique reputation right from his first year at Shawshank. Andy had a “sense of his own worth… a sense of freedom… an inner light” in him and an “unwavering faith that someday the long nightmare would end” (pg. 24,30). This had alway intrigued other convicted because all of their hope is lost unlike Andy’s. Even though Andy is not outrightly inspiring others hope for escape through his words, his own self-motivation illuminates himself enough for others to desire the feeling he has. This is especially true with Red who became one of Andy’s friends at Shawshank. Once Andy escaped, Red realized that he now had a sense of hope that rooted from Andy. Andy was now “a part of [Red] that they they could never lock up” and “if [he] had never known Andy, [he] probably would have” committed another crime. However, since Andy took his own life into his own hands, it motivated Red to do the same. Andy became a source of motivation and proof that true escape is possible. The constant hope that drives Andy towards his actions and the perseverance in his nature, shows others that there are two choices: “ Get busy living or get busy dying”(pg. 66). It is a true decision that one has to make where one can either remain trapped, or strive to the relief of escape. Even though multiple struggles are obstructing at time, Andy

The area of the criminal justice system that is showcased in the Shawshank Redemption is the prison system. By following the story of the main character Andy, both the problems and realities of the system are highlighted. Throughout the film, the characters are portrayed in many ways. The most alarming ways that the prisoners in the film is as lower class citizens. By making this point, the writers are eluding to the fact that the system is corrupt because of the subculture that exist within it.

Shawshank Redemption is the story of a friendship unfolding over thirty years. It is the story of the value and potential of a person, and how anyone can find the courage to keep fighting during hard times. One of the main characters, Andy Dufresne faces insurmountable odds, while still holding onto hope. Red is the narrator of the story and Andy’s closest friend. By following their stories, we can examine their lives inside the criminal justice system. To see how society and its elite players treat the people labeled as criminals, and how those elite men become criminals themselves.