Hope Can Set You Free

Essay by jlbogg96University, Bachelor'sA+, December 2007

download word file, 12 pages 5.0

Boggess � PAGE �2� Boggess � PAGE �11�

John Boggess

Instructor - Roxanne Beard, Ph.D.

BUS 355 - Organizational Behavior and Group Dynamics

15 November 2007

"Hope Can Set You Free"

INTRODUCTION

"The Shawshank Redemption" is a profound movie with numerous themes displayed throughout the symbolic tale. It is a story of an innocent man's journey of survival, friendship, and most significantly hope, which embellish this remarkable film. Andy Dufresne is the main character that the movie revolves around, while Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding serves as the film's narrator and is derived from Red's perspective as he reflects back. The movie takes place at Shawshank Prison in the late 1940's and spans throughout twenty years until the conclusion unfolds to captivate the audience. Other characters that play pivotal roles are Warden Norton, Captain Hadley, Heywood, Brooks, Tommy, and a gang of three inmates called "The Sisters." The following quote used in the movie toward the end summarizes it best, "Fear can hold you prisoner, hope can set you free" (Shawshank).

This Stephen King short story does not necessarily revolve solely around prison life, but rather trials and tribulations among the main characters. There are several religious undertones throughout the story where the Bible is often quoted, specifically when Warden Norton meets Andy for the first time. As they exchanged their favorite Bible verses, this moment is extremely significant in retrospect because of the events that take place towards the end of the movie. There are several organizational behavior issues and theories within The Shawshank Redemption that offer areas of insight and opportunity to analyze and discuss.

�

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational culture is "the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about, and reacts to its various environments. There are...