Shawshank+Redemption+Essay

Shawshank Redemption 5 Paragraph Essay

In the movie Shawshank Redemption, the main characters Andy and Red have many similarities in the type of situation they are in, although one might think they are quite different. The reasons for this are probably Hope and Institutionalization between them, even though they both try to connect to humanity the best they can.

The difference in hope between the two is that Red does not want to have hope, and Andy tries to get hope and show hope to everyone in the Shawshank prison. He does this by playing music for everyone in the prison through the intercom. Red on the other hand does not want hope because he thinks it would make him break down and lose it. Then Andy tries to give him hope by giving Red a harmonica as a connection to the outside world, but Red does not play it right away because he is afraid it would make him break down. Eventually though hope worked out for both of them in the end, and they both got out of the jail, although in different ways of course.

The sad truth about jail is that some people are in it so long they get institutionalized, and the sad part is that Red is one of them. Red, after being in the jail for more than 20 years when Andy first came to the jail was so institutionalized that he was afraid of the outside world. He also thought the world on the outside was harder than the life in the prison. Andy didn’t think so because even though he was in the jail for more than 20 years he didn’t get institutionalized because he clanged on to hope. Andy wanted to escape so he got a small pickaxe and every night he would slowly tunnel his way out with it even though it took him more than 20 years. Andy also tries to encourage hope and freedom to everyone in the prison by playing music on the intercom to help them forget about being institutionalized for a second. In the end I think Andy did a good thing for that prison and everyone in it.

Although Red and Andy may seem to be very different, in many ways, they are very similar. One might say a similarity is that they both are in a prison, but I am talking about the things they do in the prison that are similar. One thing they both do that is similar is that they try to connect the people in the jail to the outside world as best they can, although they do it in different ways. For example Andy tries to connect people in the jail by getting the warden to buy the jail more books for the prisoners to read, and eventually after 6 years he succeeded and he made the best jail library in the county for the prisoners. Red on the other hand gets things for people that they want, for a price of course. But all in all I think those two are similar in what they did for the jail, and how they were respected for it.

So in conclusion even though Red and Andy may think a little differently, they are, quite similar as well. Even though Red does not believe that hope is a good thing, and Andy thinks it is, and even though Red is scared of the outside world and Andy wants to escape back to it, they both are very similar in what they do to help the prison. As in making a library and getting things for people to make them feel more comfortable. So this is why I believe that even though Andy and Red may think differently their actions are very similar.