PILLAR, Patricia Gericka A.

MODAUDP

Reflection Paper: Shawshank Redemption

Shawshank Redemption is a story of struggle and still managing to hold hope. It tells a story of a
man named Andy Dufresne who was jailed for the crime of murdering his wife and her lover. Although
Andy’s innocence is hard to gauge due to his aloof and calm demeanor wherein even his inmates suspects
him being guilty, it was proven eventually that Andy had no hand in the death of his wife and her lover.
Andy spends the initial years of his time in prison fighting off sexual assaults from a group of prisoners but
keeps quiet about it. Not letting the hopelessness in prison get into him, Andy pursues his hobby of rock
sculpting with the small hammer tool given by Red, a confidant in prison.

The following years, Andy builds friendship not only with Red but with a few other inmates. Andy
after hearing that Hadley, a chief guard, had trouble with the high tax attached to his inheritance, offers
to help him evade it with the use of his knowledge in accounting and banking as a banker. Hadley
hesitantly accepts Andy’s offer in exchange for a few beers that Andy shares with his fellow inmates. Other
prison guards catch news of Andy’s expertise and eventually asks him for some financial advice. The
warden eventually learns this and uses Andy’s skills for his benefit. The warden asks Andy to help him
conceal money laundering acts and evade tax. The warden even goes as far as winning public projects and
using prisoner’s unpaid labor to complete those projects.

Andy later on learns that an inmate from another prison was the real murderer in Andy’s case.
Upon learning this, Andy excitedly asks the warden for another trial to prove his innocence. The warden
was visibly angered by this. Andy became much of an asset to the warden and the prison that they refuse
to let him go. One morning, wherein a morning call was due, Andy was found nowhere in his cell. A hole
where a man could barely squeeze was dug through a wall covered by a poster. It was found out that Andy
has been digging the hole for 19 years with the small hammer given to him by Red. Andy escaped from
prison, faked his identity and withdrew the warden’s money from his illegal activities from the bank, and
mailed all the documents and evidence from corruption, murder, among many other else to the local
newspaper.

The next morning, the Shawshank prison was swarmed with police officers and arrested all prison
officers who were alleged with crime. Before they could get to the warden, the warden opens the bible
where a note of Andy says “salvation did lay within”, referring to their previous conversation where the
warden, a religious hypocrite, encouraged Andy to keep reading the bible after which he uses Andy to
conceal his illegal activities. The warden then commits suicide by putting a bullet through his head. Later
on, Red is granted parole and meets up with Andy in Zihuatanejo, a place where Andy has repeatedly
confided to Red that he dreams to live in peacefully.
 Throughout the story, Red has expressly showed his disdain for hope saying that it is a dangerous
thing to hold. But after being granted his parole, Red felt that he finally feels hope for the first time in
many years. On the other hand, Andy keeps his hope during his stay in prison and holds it as if it is life
itself. He doesn’t allow himself to succumb to the sadness and pain in prison that every inmate has
accepted. Andy’s escape perfectly shows this, wherein he relentlessly dug a hole for 19 years because
accepting his fate in prison was simply not a choice for him.

Indeed, it is a story of prevailing over our struggles. But other than that, it also tells a story of
abuse of power and deception as seen by the actions of the warden and his prison officers. Even though
Andy could have a chance of clearing up his name, the warden took advantage of his authority and power
to deny Andy of his freedom in order to serve his selfish interests. This goes to show that in a hierarchy of
power, an abuse of power can often be found in a high position of authority if it is not checked by an
independent party, which in the case of the story were the local police and the local newspaper. As a
result, the whole institution fell down because the attitude and the behavior of the warden legitimized
the deceitful acts to the eyes of his subordinates, which the subordinates followed.

Following the warden’s point of view, Shawshank Redemption is a story of how one can fall from
grace through lies and deceit. And through Andy’s point of view, Shawshank Redemption is a story of truth
and standing up to truth especially when it is difficult. Because during those hard times is when truth is
needed the most.