The Shawhsank Redemption

Essay by Anonymous UserUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, January 1996

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The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is a very unique movie which involves many different personalities and underlying themes. The personalities of the inmates are very interesting and when they are combined they create a very fascinating plot which looks at prison life in a interesting and different perspective than one normally thinks. The main characters are Andy Dufrense (Tim Robbins) and Eliss 'Red' Redding (Morgan Freeman). These characters are well complimented by the wise and simple old man, Brooks (James Whitmore), and the evil warden. The personalities of the Shawshank prison combined to form a sort of community. One never really thinks of a prison as such, but it seems to hold true. This movie showed a prison not only as a place where murderers and thieves live, but as a community of people who have had problems and may or may not be rehabilitating. It seems that some prisoners go in and accept what they have done and try to make something of an already disastrous life while others give up and really don't care if they commit other crimes (inside and outside of the prison).

But in all reality, the prison was home for the inmates and they made it into what it was. The demeanor of the characters creates a very unique atmosphere.

The story revolves around Andy who is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover in 1946 and is sentenced to life in prison. He is sent to the Shawshank prison, the state prison in Maine which is known for its harshness.

At the beginning of the movie, one does not know if Andy committed the horrible crime of murder. But what is known is that he is not ready for prison and honestly doesn't seem like a man who...