The Shawshank Redemption

● The theme of freedom is explored in challenging and fascinating ways throughout TSR
(directed by Frank Darabont.)
● This film tells the story of Andy Dufresne ,a respectable ,unassuming banker ,wrongly
convicted of murdering his wife and her lover .
● Condemned to two life sentences, Andy is sent to the brutally unforgiving Shawshank
prison,where he attempts to stay free in his mind and spirit in the face of daily threats of
violence ,intimidation and blackmail.
● Andy loses his freedom in the opening scene of the film.At the trial for a double murder,
Andy challenges and subverts the viewers expectations of how an innocent man should
behave. Rather than shout he whispers ,rather than protest,he explains. However his
manner counts against him , as he is found guilty of murder the judge says “ You strike
me as a particularly icy and remorseless man Mr.Dufresne .It chills my blood just to look
at you”
● Andy is a free spirit who doesn't follow the examples of others as much as set the
example for them. When a prisoner is killed by an officer ,Andy asks if anyone knows his
name This shocks his fellow prison mates who are so hardened by the prison system
that they do not think of each other as people,only numbers.
● The theme of freedom emerges in the most unexpected place as Andy asserts his free
thinking ways amongst the prisoners and the guards at Shawshank. Andy offers to help
Byron Hadley with avoiding tax on his inheritance in return for a small payment in kind (
beer for his friends).He demonstrates a new way of seeing the world .
● As the men sit on the rooftop sipping their 8 beers Red remarks “ We sat and drank with
the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men”
● Andy takes risks ,so he can feel free.
● When the warden offers Andy a type of freedom within the prison walls when he offers
Andy a job looking after his tax affairs . So Andy is moved from the laundry which gets
him away from the violence and intimidation he was experiencing .Andy quickly moves
from doing this work from the warden , to the other prison officers and then onto guards
from other prisons.
● The theme of freedom is dealt with in a poignant and ultimately tragic way when Books,
an elderly convict who works with Andy in the library ,is released from prison.Ultimately
he is unable to cope with life outside prison.In a dramatic and unsettling moment ,Brooks
inscribes his name on the beam in the in his bedroom and then takes his own life.
 ● The theme of freedom is explored in a life affirming way when Andy challenges the
warden’s authority .He locks himself in the wardens office and plays a record of Mozart
over the PA system. The entire prison stops to listen .Red explains “ it was like some
beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and
for the briefest of moments every last man at Shawshank felt free.
● The film presents freedom as an illusion when Warden Norton for help with appealing his
sentence. The warden is unsupportive of Andy's cause. Andy thinks the warden doesn't
want to help him because he is afraid the authorities will question the nature of their
relationship. The warden sends Andy to solitary confinement for a month and threatens
to close down the library if he doesn't continue to launder the money.
● The theme of freedom is presented in an unforgettable way when Andy escapes from
prison-Andy breaks free from his past and embraces a new future.
● The final scene of the film showcases the theme of freedom in an uplifting unambiguous
way. Andy's escape from prison is held up by the other prisoners as a symbol of pure
and uplifting freedom.In the final shot shows Red walking across a deserted beach in
Mexico . He is greeted by Andy who is restoring a boat. The two friends embraced , free
in person as they are in spirit. The theme of freedom is reinforced in its purest sense as
the film ends.

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Cultural Context
Overveiw of society Cultural context of the film is complex. It is set in Maine ,Texas,in the
40’s.The prison is a violent place but it is also a place of meaningful friendships such as those
between Red and the other inmates.

Gender roles: Men do all of the paid work ( judge, lawyers, prison officers) women barely
feature at all in fact there is hardly a word spoken by a woman at all in the 140 minutes of
screen time.

Social class: Andy's middle class background works to his advantage in prison, where his
financial expertise helps him gain favors with both the wardens and the guards .

Religion : plays a significant role in the cultural context of the film, where the warden
disingenuously preaches about religious virtues while living a life of corruption .
On arrival all prisoners are given prison clothes,a Bible and a lecture from the warden
 " I believe in two things . Discipline and the bible" . Here you'll receive both. Put your faith in the
Lord, your ass belongs to me'".
Andy is more interested in hope than religion . Red tells Andy that "hope is a dangerous thing
that has "no place" in prison because it can drive a man"insane ". Neither man attends mass, a
service or pray..

Important quotations in The Shawshank Redemption

1. Andy Dufresne -“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no

good thing ever dies.”

2. Red– “These walls are funny. First you hate ’em. Then you get used to ’em.

Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.”

3. Brooks– “The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.”

4. Red– “There’s not a day goes by I don’t feel regret. Not because I’m in here,

or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young,

stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try

and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t. That kid’s

long gone and this old man is all that’s left. I got to live with that.

Rehabilitated? It’s just a bullshit word. So you can go and stamp your form,

Sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don’t give a

shit.”

5. Andy Dufresne– “I guess it comes down to a simple choice. Get busy living

or get busy dying.”

about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I like to

think they were singing about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in

words and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared

higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like

some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls

dissolve away. And for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank

felt free.”

7. Andy Dufresne– “Bad luck, I guess. It floats around. It’s got to land on

somebody. It was my turn, that’s all.”

8. The Warden– “Salvation lies within”

9. Red– “They send you here for life, that’s exactly what they’re taking”.

10. Andy– “You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific?”

Red- “No”

Andy- “They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my

life. A warm place with no memory.”

11. Red– “I find I’m so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my

head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the
start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it

across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the

Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”

12. Red– “Andy Dufresne, the man who crawled through 500 yards of shit and

came out clean the other end.”