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Shira Woolf 2021 Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption notes
RITA HAYWORTH AND THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
(BOOK)
Stephen King
CHARACTERS
RED
Background: Narrator of the story who is in prison for killing his wife , their
neighbor and the neighbors child. He is the man who can smuggle almost
anything into Shawshank from the outside world.
Personality:he makes himself indispensable(absolutely necessary) to the other
inmates, Red affords himself protection and an esteemed place in prison and
he is well respected. He forces the other men to do business on his terms and
knows full well the need to defend his own interests (very street smart and is
able to make realistic judgements on other peoples character traits)in a world
where violence and exploitation are the norm.
Red’s hardened stance conceals his fear and insecurity as he struggles to make
sense of his life both in and out of prison.
‘ are you still locked down to knuckle stubs.’- this shows that Reds use of
pencils and writing is equivalent to Andys stone hammers and escaping. This
way of ‘escaping’ the four wall as of prison allows Andy to beat an institutional
mentality and because Red it writing about Andy it allows him to do the same
ANDY DUFRENSE
Background: in prison for supposedly murdering his wife and her lover. He
claimed he did not do it but because of his personality and the way he
answered questions in court he is given a life sentence.
Personality: Andy’s calm, cool collectedness govern his interactions with the
world around him, and he rarely succumbs to emotion. This played a role in his
sentence as we as people as well as the jury are more likely to believe emotion
rather than cold hard facts. He was given such a harsh role as he is not
, Shira Woolf 2021 Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption notes
emotional, he says things in a factual way and even sometimes sarcastic -and
people don’t like that.
What many inmates take for snobbery is actually reserve and caution as Andy
tries to stay one step ahead of his adversaries. Without his hidden inner
strength(eventually is capeable of symbolicly breaking down the rock walls of
the prison. This is not only psyical strength but also refers to mental and
emotional as he has the ability to withstand the prison system) and inner
resolve(determination), Andy would never have survived his twenty-eight
years in prison. He never allows his rapists to take advantage of him without
fight and retaliates either with violence or snarky comments. On the surface he
does not seem like a powerful person but with patience and persistence over
time he is able to ‘break rock like a river’.
Andy sees rocks in a different way compare to other people. And example of
this would be when he took a handful of exercise yard dirt and began to sit
through it he saw soft pebbles and the wife the dirt off and then there were
two sparkly quotes.
We see that Andy also helps to be ability to the other prisoners by expanding
the library. The guards allow him to do this because he does the taxes and
helps with investors. In addition he helps the warden launder his illegal funds
By making himself useful he has the help of the others around him. And the
benefits from this arrangement he does not get soulmate and he is able to
expand his library from a paint locker
Andy built who he was because he respected himself. His main character traits
were perseverance and working with his surroundings in order to achieve his
goal.
Closer to the end his fellow prisoners view him as: Andy, the man who can talk
down the guards; Andy, the man who can manipulate the warden; and Andy,
the man who can escape out from under everyone’s noses.
BYRON HADLEY
Background: He is a prison guard who has been at Shawshank for a very long
time. He has even been there for longer than two wardens
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