Shawshank+Essay

Write a formal 5 paragraph essay on the following topic:

Compare the characters of Red and Andy from the movie Shawshank Redemption. How are their attitudes toward life in prison and out of prison different.

This essay will be focusing on the differences between of the characters “Red” and “Andy” in the film “The Shankshaw Redemption”. The essay will show the differences, the similarities and changes in character.

Red has been incarcerated for so long that he has become institutionalized; he is scared of life on the outside. During his parole hearing meetings he says the same speech that has failed him before knowing that the chances of it working are low. He is scared to get out because inside he is someone important; he is the man who can get you things, if he got out he would just be another ex-con; low class and looked down upon. He does not want to have hope of getting out because of the fact that it hurts him so much, when Andy gives him a harmonica he plays one note then sadly puts it in his pocket.

Andy gets sent into jail an innocent man and is determined to get the freedom that he deserves. Almost as soon as he gets inside he starts plotting on how he will get out. Soon after he gets inside he locates red “the man who can get you things” and asks him for a rock hammer. He then begins his 19 year quest of tunneling through the prison wall. He is confident on his ability to live on the outside and cherishes. He plays music for the other prisoners over the prison’s PA system and gets thrown in the hole for a month, yet he does not care because “he had Mozart with him”.

Despite the differences in the two characters they also have quite a few similarities, one of them being that they both seem like intelligent, reasonable men. They also both get along with each other quite well showing that they have similar personalities. When Andy first got in Red bet on him being the first to cry, and lost then took a fast liking to him. When Andy escaped from prison Red was very upset as they had been friends for nearly 20 years, and he had no desire to be in jail anymore. Red gets out and has no direction in life and is thinking of things he could do to make himself go back to jail, then he remembers his promise to Andy; to go to an oak tree that Andy told him about and dig up a rock. He digs up the rock and to his surprise he finds a letter addressed to him telling him to come to Mexico to meet Andy and he decides to do it. The film was defiantly a masterpiece and is now one of my all-time favorites.