Shawshank Redemtion Essay Research Paper SHAWSHANK REDEMPTIONThere

Shawshank Redemtion Essay, Research Paper

SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

There is nothing more pathetic than a man without hope. In The Shawshank Redemption, Andy is a man that is imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit. He sentenced to life in prison and with this verdict he is raped of all hope for a normal life. Once a successful investment banker, Andy uses the skills he learned on the outside, to make life more bearable on the inside. Despite his imprisonment, Andy had a plan not only to succeed in life but also to help those who befriended him while imprisoned and more directly to persecute those who tormented him in Shawshank prison.

h Discuss the opening scene in which Andy is wrongly accused and show how the director sets the stage for the audience to pity Andy.

h Show the effects that the prison has on Andy i.e. the way he acts, the friends he makes, and the enemies that he makes.

h Discuss Andy s plan and how it begins to take action. Include the difficulties he faces establishing the trust needed to get away with his scheme as well as the set backs he encounters, both internally and externally.

h Show how prison can permanently change a man and make him virtually useless to the free world.

h Show how Andy executed his plan, and why it is so ingenious.

h Discuss the meaning of the title and what it leads the audience to believe versus what it actually stands for.

There is nothing more pathetic than a man without hope. In The Shawshank Redemption, Andy is a man that is imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit. He is sentenced to life in prison and with this verdict he is raped of all hope for a normal life. Once a successful investment banker, Andy uses the skills he learned on the outside, to make life more bearable on the inside. Despite his imprisonment, Andy had a plan not only to succeed in life but also to help those who befriended him while imprisoned and more directly to persecute those who tormented him in Shawshank prison.

The story opens during the conclusion of a murder trial, in which Andy recalls the events of the night in which his wife was murdered. From the start of the novel the audience is aware of Andy s innocence. The purpose of this scene is not only to show the reason for Andy s imprisonment but also to intensify the sense of the pity that will cause the audience to like Andy Dufresne. This pity is important throughout the novel in order to make the audience sympathetic to his situation and also to make Andy s vindication at the end of the story more powerful.

The story begins to introduce Andy s hardships in prison. At first he is quiet and keeps to himself, he is attempting to get use to life on the inside without any confrontations. At this point in the book the audience is introduced to several of the inmates serving time at Shawshank Prison. One of these inmates was Red. He becomes the narrator of the story and also Andy s first, and best, friend at Shawshank. Red and Andy develop a friendship that enables Andy to gain the trust he needs to actualize his plan.

According to Red prison is routine . Andy s routine was not an easy one. Despite the friends that he had made, the sisters , men who had turned to other men for sexual gratification while locked up, constantly raped Andy. His routine was fighting to maintain his dignity and most times ending up in the infirmary and then starting the routine all over again. He was permanently looking over his shoulder to avoid another confrontation with these frolicsome men.

Thanks to the help of Red s connections on the inside, Andy is able to work outside the prison tarring the roof of a nearby library. It is in this scene that Andy will gain the trust of the prison guards, which will be the stepping stone for the remainder of the plot of the novel. Andy gave advice to the head guard that enabled him to keep 10,000 dollars that was left to him by his deceased brother. Once he had convinced the guard that he was telling the truth Andy set up the deal for him. After this incident Andy began to file tax returns for the staff of Shawshank as well as other local prisons. This assignment to file tax returns for the guards and the warden free of charge made Andy an extremely popular man with the staff of Shawshank prison. He was so popular in fact that the next time the sisters tried to rape him, was the last time. After he fought his way into one month s worth of infirmary time, the guards beat the sisters so badly that they never touched Andy again.

It was right about this time that the warden instituted a plan to benefit the community and also to fatten his wallet. He used the inmates to do various jobs throughout the community such as highway construction and demolition. With this pool of slave labor he could underbid any contractor in the state and he did. The dirty money started flowing through Shawshank prison; Andy Dufresne laundered every bit of that money. Andy set up several bank accounts that the warden used to hold his corrupted cash. One of my favorite points in the story is when the plot begins to unfold, when Andy informs Red of how he has set up the bank accounts under a fake name and how he has conjured up a man out of thin air. He has obtained a social security card, driver s license, and birth certificate by utilizing the cracks in the system. What makes it my favor