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Comparison Of 1984 And The Shawshank Redemption

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There is no question that 1984 and The Shawshank Redemption are very important works that demonstrate important lessons that can be applied to peoples lives. But one of the big ideas they portray is how one can persevere and maintain their inner lives no matter their circumstance.But 1984 and The Shawshank Redemption demonstrate different outcomes of this idea. 1984 shows the outcome of when someone fails at maintaining their inner lives. The Shawshank Redemption meanwhile shows what happens when one succeeds.Both characters have a vision for the future. Andy and Winston fight for change through maintaining hobbies.Winston fails to change his scenario while Andy Dufresne succeeds. In both the novel 1984 and the movie Shawshank redemption two …show more content…

He hopes that people will rebel and stop believing and listening to the party's ideas. Winstions thought of rebellion and the party being taken begins with the proles. As Winston thinks that along with his journal and trying to expose the lies of the Ministry of truth that if the proles come together they could maybe overthrow the party. Winston writes “If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, 85 percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated.” (Orwell 72) Although it is very unlikely, Winston still believes that the party could be overthrown and that the proles are the key to it. Even though Winston knows that the proles would probably not be smart enough for it he still tries to think that there is a small possibility. These different ideas keep his hopes for the future possible in his mind. The same way Winston has these different ideas for the future Andy Dufresne also keeps these unrealistic hopes while being stuck in an equally difficult situation. The situation Andy Dufresne is put in would most likely break most people and would leave them lose hope for the future as they are stuck in prison for life. But Andy is different because throughout the entire movie no matter what happens Andy also clings to the possibility that he can at the least turn his situation into a somewhat regular …show more content…

Along with the journal Winston’s relationship with Julia is also a hobby Winston uses to rebel against the party. Because love is severely restricted and has been done in a certain way according to the party, if people start breaking those rules it could lead to other people breaking the rules too. When Winston meets with Julia it can be considered a major blow to the party. Winston explains this saying “Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.” (Orwell 133) This along with the journal are two ways that Winston has some form of short term success in going against the party. In addition to Winston using his hobbies to fight against the party, Andy also uses his hobbies to strive for change in Shawshank prison. There is not much that Andy could have done to fight for change in the prison as he was a prisoner and could not have a huge say in the matter. But one thing he could do was try to make his life better along with the people around him and he did that through his hobbies. Andy had many different hobbies, some that were just meant to make his life feel a bit more normal and others that made a real difference in the entire prison. Reading and playing games were more personal types of hobbies but starting up the library and teaching other inmates were hobbies that

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1. Winston believes that the true way to defeat the Party is by the proles. He says that he knows that power lies within the proles and that power can be used to overthrow and defeat the Party. 2. To Winston, the most important thing for him is that he knows that the Brotherhood exists.

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1505 Words | 7 Pages

Winston creates the dream vision of the future through his fantasy of the Party being overthrown to result in a fair government. Winston believes the government is rotten and rigorous, which helps bring out his heroic characteristic of being an inspiring man. He has a vision for what he wants Oceania to become and Winston feels that the proles need “only to rise up and shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies” and if they want, they can “blow the Party to pieces tomorrow morning” and be “conscious of their own strength” (69). Winston indicates that “If there is hope” he continues in his diary, “it lies in the proles” (82). The proles take up about 85% of the population, and in Winston’s eyes, if they all work together they would be able to come against the Party and create a revolution against them.

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893 Words | 4 Pages

Both the movie and the book also have The Shawshank Penitentiary be located in Maine. Another change to the setting is that Andy's room had posters of Rita Hayworth, Raquel Welch and Linda Rondstadt in the book and in the movie only had Rita and Raquel's posters in his room. A final change is that the book takes place over thirty years while the movie takes place over twenty years. Both the book and film cued you into a time change through the narration of Red and events in the life of Andy. Some advantages that the movie had over the book is that the movie could paint the exact picture they want for the prison, which helps set the mood for the rest of the

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1344 Words | 6 Pages

Eventually, Red got out on parole, and it was the hope that Andy brought to Shawshank that kept him going on the outside. In this story, Andy was the most hopeful person in Shawshank, but he was also sensible towards the notion of risk and reward. Despite being a

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1977 Words | 8 Pages

During Andy’s arrival to the penitentiary, he seemed like he was in distress and in disbelief that he was going to spend the rest of his life incarnated. The moment when Andy was being shackled he knew at that moment that he lost all of his rights and freedoms. When he was in society he was deem with freedoms such as expression, liberty, speech, etc. but now they are taken away. An example of a scene would be when Andy and the other new inmates were force to listen to the guards and do what they were told.

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548 Words | 3 Pages

The Shawshank prison is a corrupt prison with underhanded actions from the guards and inmates. Before Andy Dufresne entered prison, he was a banker and he followed the law, like a ruler. When Andy was put in prison

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1481 Words | 6 Pages

At the beginning of the novel, Winston made it prominent that he dissented Big Brother and his party’s idea. He wrote in his diary, in Book 1 Chapter 1, “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER…” (Orwell 18). This shows that Winston dissented his country’s government and was willing to rebel for he knew deep inside that

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687 Words | 3 Pages

When you read a book, you usually focus on the plot or your favorite character. But focusing on the author's craft can impact how someone would read the book, from the organization to its literary devices. Throughout 1984 by George Orwell and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, similarities and differences between the two books can be seen. This includes the similarities with chronological order, similarities in the literary devices, and the difference in point of view. One of the similarities between 1984 and To Kill A Mockingbird is chronological order.

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To develop a sense of freedom, Winston writes in his journal, ultimately committing thoughtcrime. For example, Winston writes, “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone—to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone” (28). In writing this journal, it is visible that Winston is interested in rebellion. He wants to show the Party that he is doing something illegal and is able to get away with it. He demonstrates this in reading Goldstein’s book.

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1171 Words | 5 Pages

When Andy is consistently denied by the government for funding to build a new library in Shawshank prison, Andy remains persistent and continues to write letters in hopes the government would change its mind. Red comments: “Prison time is slow time. Sometimes. It feels like stop-time. So you do what you can to keep going …”

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1092 Words | 5 Pages

With time, the scenes became brighter, slowly and gradually throughout Andy’s stay at Shawshank. Andy brought hope to the prison and we began seeing and feeling this throughout the film with the use of lighting. This can be best exemplified by the well-known rooftop scene, where Andy “buys” some of his fellow inmates a moment of freedom. As they sipped a cold beer on a hot spring day in 1949, they tasted the freedom and hope that they craved ever so much, and this was all thanks to Andy. We could see the mood change through the lighting, as it was a spring day.

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518 Words | 3 Pages

When Winston is taken by the thought police we get an insight on how the party truly works. They are men and women who are seeking power can be shown in the quote “The party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the goods of other; we are only interested solely in power.”. This quote shows how the party does not care for the people but as long as they are in control then it does not matter. To gain power in this world is not hard, it is shown as an endless cycle of the middle becoming high and doing the same thing the high class before them did.

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774 Words | 4 Pages

After he came to Shawshank, he experienced every terrible and disgusting things happening there. Whenever Bogg’s “sisters” physically abuses and rapes Andy, he endures it until he figures out where to get protection and how would he manage it. Andy gets protection from the guards and relations with other prisoners, and he achieves his demands by his knowledge and skills. He builds relationships with ‘co-workers’ by sharing beers from helping Hadley.

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584 Words | 3 Pages

A smart and intelligent person who was presented with a chance to be found innocent. This gave Andy hope, A reason to fight and keep going but when the warden denied his request of a retrial, he lost all that hope forcing him to change and become almost broken. When he was released from solitary confinement he was shriveled up in a corner almost with the same thousand yard stares formed in veterans that fought in wars. During those wars, The soldiers that fought saw things that the majority of us will never see in our lives. They saw their fellow friends and sometimes family killed in front of their eyes which (most of the time) stripped their hope away from them making them feel like there's no reason to live or to keep going and as a result it changed them.

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1499 Words | 6 Pages

Winston also acknowledges the fact that the proles will remain ignorant to their power until they rebel but they will not rebel until they are aware of their power. This cyclic contradiction proves that the proles will never be able to overthrow the government. This ignorance of the people gives strength to the Party. The Ministry of Truth, where Winston works, has a big part in keeping the people ignorant. Winston’s job is to change the past.

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