Summary
The narrator of the book, Red, has been in prison for a long time and was sentenced to several lifetimes in prison. His crime was cutting the brake lines in his wife's car which ended up killing his wife, the neighbor women, and her child. Andy Dufresne was also sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife and her not so mystery mister. Both Andy and Red were sentenced to the Shawshank Prison. Andy was a rockhound and Red was "the guy who could get anything" so Red got Andy a rock pick and a poster of a popular model. Andy was quickly acclimated to the prison life and what came with it.
He was routinely raped because the men who raped him liked that he tried to resist. Eventually, the men lost interest and got scared off and stopped abusing him. Andy never let the prison life get to him and continued to update his wall poster with new ones of new girls, and continue his rock collection. Life in prison got better for him when the prison staff found out that he was very good with money as he worked as a financial advisor before his sentence. He sets up accounts for basically every prison staff member and helps with some shady tax evasion jobs as well. Eventually the warden that likes Andy is replaced by a hardcore, southern baptist preacher who is also an evil person who was heavily involved in fraud. He used Andy to help him move money around and into his bank account.
Andy has always claimed to be innocent but he had no proof until he met a man who recently transferred to Shawshank from a different prison. Without hearing any of Andy's backstory, he recited a story of one of his former cell mates about killing a golf pro and his mistress. The story matched Andy's exactly but when he brought this up to the warden, the warden was scared that Andy would expose him so he made sure Andy would never have the chance to prove himself innocent.
Andy, realizing he has no chance at being proven innocent, he relies on a fake identity he set up before being put in prison, and his rock pick to start a new life. He turned out to have been tunneling behind his model posters for years. He used this tunnel to escape prison and then that fake identity and all the money associated with it to start a new life in Mexico. Red is eventually released on parole where he gets a job at a grocery store and lives a boring life.
One day, he decided to start looking for the place Andy hid the his new identity and eventually finds it, along with a money telling him to come start this new life with him, and enough money to get to Mexico.
He was routinely raped because the men who raped him liked that he tried to resist. Eventually, the men lost interest and got scared off and stopped abusing him. Andy never let the prison life get to him and continued to update his wall poster with new ones of new girls, and continue his rock collection. Life in prison got better for him when the prison staff found out that he was very good with money as he worked as a financial advisor before his sentence. He sets up accounts for basically every prison staff member and helps with some shady tax evasion jobs as well. Eventually the warden that likes Andy is replaced by a hardcore, southern baptist preacher who is also an evil person who was heavily involved in fraud. He used Andy to help him move money around and into his bank account.
Andy has always claimed to be innocent but he had no proof until he met a man who recently transferred to Shawshank from a different prison. Without hearing any of Andy's backstory, he recited a story of one of his former cell mates about killing a golf pro and his mistress. The story matched Andy's exactly but when he brought this up to the warden, the warden was scared that Andy would expose him so he made sure Andy would never have the chance to prove himself innocent.
Andy, realizing he has no chance at being proven innocent, he relies on a fake identity he set up before being put in prison, and his rock pick to start a new life. He turned out to have been tunneling behind his model posters for years. He used this tunnel to escape prison and then that fake identity and all the money associated with it to start a new life in Mexico. Red is eventually released on parole where he gets a job at a grocery store and lives a boring life.
One day, he decided to start looking for the place Andy hid the his new identity and eventually finds it, along with a money telling him to come start this new life with him, and enough money to get to Mexico.
Quote
“It’s my life! It’s my life, don’t you understand it’s my life?”
(106). |
Andy had everything thought of and knew exactly what to do to get a new investigation started. When he brought it to the warden of the prison, the warden was skeptical and thought he knew better. When Andy insulted him, the warden kicked him out and wouldn’t listen to anything he had to say. Then Andy was sentenced to solitary.
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The ability to have sympathy is so important when it comes to relationships. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to bond with others. Some let greed and other similar emotions eclipse the light of empathy and sympathy. An unfeeling person becomes the result.
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Essay
Molding a New Reality
Most voyagers of life beleive their sea to be smooth, clear waters but in all reality, the waters are rarely what they seem. The everchanging sea doesn’t wait for the traveler to make their choice and put in an action plan. The waves pick up and crash down one moment, and then tame themselves. The reality one sees is like this, everchangind sea. Reality it’s self can be changed through one being convinced of a reality, money dictating it, and the improper distinction between truth and lies. The sea that is life and reality can leave one as dazed as a great pacific storm.
Ones own perception of reality can easily be persuaded to alter through both outside and inside influences. In Stephen King’s novel, Shawshank Redemption, the narrator, Red, mentions that “If enough people want you to remember something, that can be a powerful persuader.” (21). When reality is served to one by others that are considered believable, that cement like reality can become more acceptable than one’s own soft, clay like memories. One’s own memories can also be self altered. Red goes on to say “There [are] inconsistencies in Tommy’s story, but aren’t there always in real life?” (98). Red acknowledges that humans are guilty of exagerating stories and buying into them themselves. Through altering and influencing memories, a new reality is designed.
Money has the power to dictate reality as we know it through it’s inherent power. Andy from Shawshank Redemption has first hand experience this power. Red mentions that “Andy was a banker in the street world - a man who understands better than the rest of us the ways in which money can become power.” (46). Money can control the greed inherent in people, imposing what one’s reality is and, by design, because Andy can control that money, he can control those so drawn to it. Through this, the master of the money becomes the molder of other’s realities.
If one lacks the ability to decipher between pure truth, tall tales, and unaltered lies, actuality is anything one is told. Red learned this lesson when hearing story after story from the cons in prison. He says “you have to know how to pick out the grains of truth from the chaff of lies, rumors, and wish-it-had-beens.” (52). The distorsion of lies not only alters the sights one has to see but can also fog the lenses one sees through. Those segments of “lies, rumors, and wish-it-had-beens” all individually change how we imaging an event or a setting. Like sorting between the tares and wheat, one can not have a pure harvest in the field of life if those lies are not detected and removed.
Although the way is dangerous and the distortions of the sea want to take all hostage, that fate is not for certain. One can learn how the waves of realities are formed and learn to avoid and traverse them. Ovoiding the manipulation that leads to self doubt, not falling victim to greed and money, and deciphering between truth and deception is key. Through this, one is free to shape a true reality. One should ask themself, who’s reality they are in.
Most voyagers of life beleive their sea to be smooth, clear waters but in all reality, the waters are rarely what they seem. The everchanging sea doesn’t wait for the traveler to make their choice and put in an action plan. The waves pick up and crash down one moment, and then tame themselves. The reality one sees is like this, everchangind sea. Reality it’s self can be changed through one being convinced of a reality, money dictating it, and the improper distinction between truth and lies. The sea that is life and reality can leave one as dazed as a great pacific storm.
Ones own perception of reality can easily be persuaded to alter through both outside and inside influences. In Stephen King’s novel, Shawshank Redemption, the narrator, Red, mentions that “If enough people want you to remember something, that can be a powerful persuader.” (21). When reality is served to one by others that are considered believable, that cement like reality can become more acceptable than one’s own soft, clay like memories. One’s own memories can also be self altered. Red goes on to say “There [are] inconsistencies in Tommy’s story, but aren’t there always in real life?” (98). Red acknowledges that humans are guilty of exagerating stories and buying into them themselves. Through altering and influencing memories, a new reality is designed.
Money has the power to dictate reality as we know it through it’s inherent power. Andy from Shawshank Redemption has first hand experience this power. Red mentions that “Andy was a banker in the street world - a man who understands better than the rest of us the ways in which money can become power.” (46). Money can control the greed inherent in people, imposing what one’s reality is and, by design, because Andy can control that money, he can control those so drawn to it. Through this, the master of the money becomes the molder of other’s realities.
If one lacks the ability to decipher between pure truth, tall tales, and unaltered lies, actuality is anything one is told. Red learned this lesson when hearing story after story from the cons in prison. He says “you have to know how to pick out the grains of truth from the chaff of lies, rumors, and wish-it-had-beens.” (52). The distorsion of lies not only alters the sights one has to see but can also fog the lenses one sees through. Those segments of “lies, rumors, and wish-it-had-beens” all individually change how we imaging an event or a setting. Like sorting between the tares and wheat, one can not have a pure harvest in the field of life if those lies are not detected and removed.
Although the way is dangerous and the distortions of the sea want to take all hostage, that fate is not for certain. One can learn how the waves of realities are formed and learn to avoid and traverse them. Ovoiding the manipulation that leads to self doubt, not falling victim to greed and money, and deciphering between truth and deception is key. Through this, one is free to shape a true reality. One should ask themself, who’s reality they are in.