Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption: Character Analysis

“All I know for sure is that Andy Dufresne wasn’t much like me or anyone else I ever knew...It was kind of inner light he carried around with him.” (King, 38) In Stephen King 's story, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption,” the narrator, Red, tells his point of view of Andy Dufresnes’ stay at Shawshank prison. Andy Dufresne testified not-guilty for the murdering of his wife and her lover, but his indifference toward the trail led the jury to find him guilty. Upon entering the prison, inmates seemed to notice the self-possessed aura that surrounded Andy and seemed to be weary of him. In an institution that’s designed to crush the self esteem of inmates, Andy stands out by keeping his sense of self worth and never letting his confidence stagger

In an institution where you have little to no control inmates tend to allow people to do as they please because that’s the way it always has been and will be. In Shawshank there’s a group that they refer to as “the sisters,” this group specifically targets and preys on the weak, inexperienced, and young. Andy was a target as soon as he walked into Shawshank, every chance they got they would corner him and try to get what they wanted. One day, behind the washers in the laundry room Andy was threatening them with Hexlite he tripped and fell and in that instant they jumped him. After “the sisters” accomplished their goal in the laundry, they came after him one more time and as Red says, “He must have come to the conclusion that others before him had come to, namely, that there are only two ways to deal with the sisters: fight them and get taken, or just get taken… He decided to fight.” (King, 23) This next advance by “the sisters” Andy was forced onto his knees and told by the main sister, Boggs Diamond, that he will swallow whatever he sticks in Andy’s mouth. Andy then tells Boggs that he will bite down on whatever he sticks in his mouth. In a situation where Andy is ganged up by more than one opposing force, he keeps his control where any other inmate would quiver and allow what seems inevitable to