Theme Of Hope In Shawshank Redemption

1134 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The shawshank redemption analysis

The Shawshank Redemption is one of greatest movies of the 20th century.The movie takes place in 1947 at a crowded prison in Maine called Shawshank. Although prisons are meant to change someone and their outlook on life. This prison however, is horrifying with all the brutality to the inmates, and its ability to test the inmate’s hope. In the film Shawshank Redemption one of the primary themes is hope vs. despair. “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best, and good things never die”. Having hope while at the Shawshank prison can really help an inmate not hit that breaking point. Also never giving up on the thought of getting out can help the inmates have positive outlooks. The Shawshank prison has many accounts of brutality during the film. …show more content…

Andy who is a banker that is in prison for life for the murder of his wife and her lover. Andy asks Red for a rock hammer because he says he like rocks and he needs to find a way to stay busy in here. Andy gets told by the warden that if Andy becomes the new librarian that he will make sure the sisters gang does not come around him. So Andy starts the job and eventually becomes a teacher in a way. Andy helps the inmates get a high school diploma by teaching them subjects and giving them the ACT test. Then one day this guy named Tommy came to the prison, and Andy and the guys find out that Andy is innocent because Tommy knows the guy that did kill Andy’s wife and lover. So Andy goes to tell the Warden about this to maybe be set free. The Warden had different plans. The Warden puts Andy is solitaire for two months. The whole two months Andy did not break at all. Then when he finally gets out of solitaire he tells Red that even though he did not actually murder his wife he drove her away to a new lover that got her murdered. Red tells Andy “ You are not a murderer, maybe a bad husband, but not a murderer.” After talking to Andy Red feels Andy is up to something so he goes and talks to the guys. One guy confesses that Andy asked him for a six foot rope and he gave it to them. Then for bed check Andy checks in and then he put his master plan to work. Andy used the rock hammer to dig a huge hole in the wall to the sewer system. Andy crawled out and made it to a river where he showered. In The morning when the Warden finds out he escaped the only thing they could find is his clothes. Andy using the documents he stole for the prison goes to the newspaper people and tells them about Shawshank prison. The next day at the prison the police show up to get the Warden and the Warden then kills himself. Andy never lost hope of getting out. Andy finally gets redemption for a crime he was innocent

Show More
Related

  • Reefer Madness Chapter Summary

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bill goes to trial for the death of Mary and they sentence him guilty. Mary’s mom cried after the verdict was announced. Ralph hears the news about Bill and he begins to break down and feels guilty, he keeps saying that he needs to see Jack. Ralph finally sees Jack and beats him up, which finally escalates till Mae to call the police. The drug raid was busted and all the people involved in the operation were arrested. Blanche tells the police what really happened, that Bill was framed by Ralph and it was all their faults. Bill got off of trail because there was new evidence that corroborated his innocence. Blanche then jumps out of the window right before she was going to either be prosecuted for accessory to murder or going to be used as a suspect against Ralph. Before she actually jumped she reminisced about how she affected and basically ruined Bill’s life since he cheated on her then got his girlfriend killed. Then Ralph is put through a mental institution because they believed he had to be crazy to act the way he did. Then the original guy at the beginning says his last few words about how marijuana could take over anyone’s

    Read More

  • A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck

    384 Words  | 1 Pages

    On the first week at Grandma’s, a man named Shotgun Cheatman died. Everyone in the town went to the funeral because he was the well known assistant to the Mayor. The funeral was held in Grandma’s house and a creepy thing happened that night when Tom the cat crawled inside the casket. The next day, Joey, Mary Alice and Grandma left the house and walked across fields of tall grass and “cow pies aplenty” to Salt Creek to go fishing. They found an old wooden boat and Grandma rowed the boat out into the creek. While on their fishing adventure, they encountered a cottonmouth snake that fell into the boat and a party of drunken men on land dancing in their underwear.

    Read More

  • Behind Convict's Eyes by Cerceral Prison

    1338 Words  | 3 Pages

    After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would like to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life.

    Read More

  • Argot Roles In The Movie Shawshank Redemption

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    The movie Shawshank Redemption analyzing various aspects of prison life. These characteristics include prison culture specifically guard subculture and inmate subculture. The movie explores how prison is used as a punishment and can be seen as a form of machine. Argot roles, in prison as explained by Gresham Sykes, display the beliefs and attitudes of prisoners expressed in a rather distinctive manner (Lovell, 1998). They are exemplified through the inherit meanings generation by the prison environment and tied together through the prisoner social world. The language is a significant aspect of prison, and therefore it is essential to understanding the social worlds of prisoners. These argot roles represent a framework in which the social world can be further understood. There are several argot roles found in a prison. In specific, throughout the movie Shawshank Redemption, many of the characters are labelled and interpreted to be play such roles signifying how common these roles are in a prison.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Orange Is The New Black

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    All in all, Kerman’s year sentence in jail opened her eyes to some of the many problems within the federal prison system. She witnessed favoritism, abuse, health violations, etc. that helped her realize that she never wanted to go back to prison, despite all the true friendships she made. Through her use of rhetoric, mainly ethos, Kerman showed her audience a firsthand account of what an actual prison sentence is like. She also explored the idea of how one bad decision can change a person’s life forever.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Lockdown By Evans D Hopkins

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many changes are made inside the justice system, but very few have damaged the integrity of the system and the futures of citizens and prisoners. Although the story seems to focus more on lockdown, Hopkins clearly identifies the damaging change from rehabilitation in prisons to a strategy of locking up and containing the prisoners. To the writer, and furthermore the reader, the adjustment represented a failure to value lives. “More than 600,000- about 3 times what it was when I entered prison, sixteen years ago. In the resulting expansion of the nation’s prison systems, authorities have tended to dispense with much of the rehabilitative programming once prevalent in America’s penal institutions” (Hopkins 157). The new blueprint to lock every offender in prison for extended sentencing leads to an influx in incarcerated people. With each new person

    Read More

  • Hard Rock Returns To Prison From The Hospital For The Criminally Insane By Etheridge Knight

    971 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although prisons have the primary objective of rehabilitation, prisoners will likely go through many other troubling emotions before reaching a point of reformation. Being ostracized from society, it is not uncommon to experience despair, depression, and hopelessness. Be that as it may, through reading various prison writings, it can be seen that inmates can find hope in the smallest things. As represented in “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane”, the author, Etheridge Knight, as well as other black inmates look up to Hard Rock, an inmate who is all but dutiful in a world where white people are placed at the top of the totem pole. However, after Hard Rock goes through a lobotomy-esque procedure, the motif

    Read More

  • Essay On Self-Respect In The Novel Rita Hayworth And The Shawshank Redemption

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, Andy preserves his self-respect by fighting or defending himself from the rape squad of Shawshank Prison known as “The Sisters”.

    Read More

  • Prison Subculture In The Movie Shawshank Redemption

    1671 Words  | 4 Pages

    The film illustrates the subculture within the fictional Shawshank State Prison in Maine. In this prison, inmates fulfill certain roles such as the dominant, masculine male, the helpless, feminine man, and the inmate that stands out. This is similar to real prisons and helps develop specific culture, expectations of behaviors and norms, and values within the prison. Furthermore, the inmate that plays the role of a smuggler of outside items, helps to establish the norms of currency between the inmates. Lastly, for the inmates, Shawshank is

    Read More

  • Conditions at the Eastern State Penitentiary

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is 1787 in the home of Benjamin Franklin where a group of powerful Philadelphians held in high esteem have congregated to deliberate a very pressing issue. They are conversing on the present prison institutions established across America and Europe. It seems that the institutions in both countries are known for their appalling conditions. Benjamin Franklin and his colleagues have set out to change the course of prison history. Their plan is to make a prison system based entirely on reform and enlightenment instead of punishment and misery. They believe prisoners should repent and seek God to help them learn from their mistakes, hence the name penitentiary. After many long years, the men finally reach success and the Eastern State Penitentiary is opened in 1829. America was in a time of reform which was obvious by the opening of such a diverse prison. But no matter how much the Eastern State Penitentiary claims to be averse to torture and harsh conditions, it was after all a prison. From the outside, the Eastern State Penitentiary appeared to be marvelous and sensational, but what went on inside of those massive walls was something entirely different. Life at the Eastern State Penitentiary was unspeakable because of the cell life, disease, and treatment that the inmates had to endure.

    Read More

  • Beyond Bars

    2133 Words  | 5 Pages

    The authors begin the book by providing advice on how a convict can prepare for release from prison. Throughout the book, the authors utilize two fictional characters, Joe and Jill Convict, as examples of prisoners reentering society. These fictional characters are representative of America’s prisoners. Prison is an artificial world with a very different social system than the real world beyond bars. Convicts follow the same daily schedule and are shaped by the different society that is prison. Prisoners therefore forget many of the obl...

    Read More

  • Attica Prison Riot and Prison Reform

    1355 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 1970s in the United States was a time of incredible change, doubt, as well as reform. The many issues happening throughout the country helped to lead to the discomfort in many prisoners that eventually lead to their e...

    Read More

  • Juveniles Deserve Life Sentences Analysis

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article Greg Ousley is sorry for killing his parents is that enough? Anderson states “hope is a tricky property something that needs to be constantly monitored and managed. Bereft of it, the inmate can quickly descend into a state of apathetic despair and turn to the fast at hand reliefs drug use, gang alliance that all but ensure his stay will be lengthened.” Anderson discusses how they can tend to get involved in things that will increase their sentence. As stated in flow psychology “by giving juveniles extremely hard sentences. It gives the impression that there is no hope for their future and no hope of them ever becoming anything, but a criminal and a convict.” -flow psychology. Flow psychology discusses how juveniles lose their hope and they believe they can't be anyone and that their lives are

    Read More

  • Overcrowding In Prison

    1553 Words  | 4 Pages

    Prison has held a place in our society for centuries. Throughout history, prisoners have been incapacitated in a vicious environment and that still rings true today. A person’s experience in prison can greatly vary. It may be a place of solace for those that are homeless because they have three meals and a bed to sleep in every night. However, it can be a nightmare for others who feel as though prison will ruin their future. It is an environment where a person is stripped of their free will. Due to overcrowding in prisons, inmate’s psychological strain, and prison officer cruelty through gladiator games and drug smuggling, proves that prison continues to be a brutalizing and debilitating experience for adult males in the United Kingdom.

    Read More

  • Prison Life

    1917 Words  | 4 Pages

    The mass media uses prison life as the source for movies and television shows. Over the years there have been many movies written about prison but the most prominent in my mind is Frank Darabont’s, The Shawshank Redemption. Throughout the film there are many examples of the falsities of prison life. There are some elements of truth but they are out weighed by the misconceptions. Numerous prisoners are allowed to walk around the prison and the prison yard with no guards in sight. In actuality there are always guards around, especially on the inside. The prisoner’s movement through the prison is highly restricted.

    Read More

More about Theme Of Hope In Shawshank Redemption

Open Document