Shutter Island

1723 Words4 Pages

In the beginning of Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, Teddy Daniels is intelligent, full of grit, clever and determined. Teddy believes he is a United States Marshal sent to Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane on Shutter Island with his partner Chuck, to investigate the case of an escaped patient, Rachel Solando. Rachel is said to be a very dangerous patient who murdered her three children. She somehow escapes her cell in the mental ward and is somewhere on the island. As soon as Teddy and Chuck hop off the ferry and onto the desolate island, they are greeted with aloofness and suspicion. None of the employees give them any real evidence of the missing patient and their answers seem to be scripted. The guards, wardens and doctors always keep an eye out for them. When they meet with the head psychologist, Dr. Cawley, he seems congenial and speaks allusively, holding back most of the information he knows about Rachel Solando. Despite the monster hurricane bearing down on the island, Teddy remains determined and strong. Refusing to give up, Teddy marches into the atrocious storm, persistent to locate Rachel. When Teddy and Chuck head out to look around the island, the intensity of the hurricane is described, “Ashcliffe shrouded to their left somewhere in the smash of wind and rain. It grew measurably worse in the next half hour, and they pressed their shoulders together in order to hear each other talk and listed like drunks” (139). The storm is heavily pounding the island yet, Teddy continues to fight through it no matter what happens. Another example of his grit is displayed when he climbs up an enormous cliff to reach a cave. In order to reach the cave he believes either Chuck is camping out in, Teddy ascends on an extre...

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...y that was created by the side of himself he truly malices, Andrew Laeddis. Teddy uses Andrew to symbolize the side of himself that he can not stand and has a deep hatred for. The culpability that Andrew experiences was too much to bear on his own. Thus, he created Teddy Daniels, a heroic United States Marshal, held on Shutter Island against his own will. When in reality, Andrew Laeddis is an insane patient who lived in a hallucination to cope with his sins. Teddy is a dynamic character because he changed from not knowing who he is, to understanding who he truly is. Andrew lies about recognizing who he is in order to receive a lobotomy so he can forget all his pain forever. In conclusion, Teddy Daniels/Andrew Laeddis faces many conflicts throughout the story that make him become a dynamic character. After all, is it better to live as a monster or die as a good man?

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