Hope In Rita Hayworth And The Shawshank Redemption

Life constantly bombards us with series of twists and turns which we inevitably have to battle. In these times of struggle, we often look up into the light for small glimmers of hope that helps motivates us to push forwards. While we struggle, hope has always been by our side. In Stephen King’s novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, and its film adaptation, directed by Frank Darabont, The Shawshank Redemption, the theme of hope is perpetuated through Red’s character. It tells a life story about Andy Dufresne, a life sentenced convict who proclaims his innocence, who is sent to Shawshank prison. As he slowly integrates with prison life, he meets another man called Ellis, also known as Red, who he gradually becomes best friends with.

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 …” (Darabont, 242). Here, Red takes a more laid back and less explicit approach to portray hope towards Andy. His style is also very poetic, breaking up words into incoherent sentences. With long pauses in between sentences, it allows Red to place emphasis on the words “time”, “slow” and “stop”, portraying a sense of length to his sentence. This results in the captivated tone being seemingly careless while being supportive at the same time. Furthermore, as an act of rebellion, while Andy played music through the prison’s speaker system, Red comments: “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 these walls dissolve away...and for the briefest of moments -- every last man at Shawshank felt free.” (277). Without directly conversing with Andy, Red utilizes a metaphor to compare Andy to a “beautiful bird”. Here, as the beautiful bird was able to seemingly able to “dissolve walls away”, it symbolically portrays a glimpse of hope, as one day he might be released. In addition, when Andy was released from solitary confinement, Red approaches Andy, saying: “That there are things in this world not carved out of gray stone. That there 's a small place inside of us they can never lock away, and that place is called hope.” (351). As Red feels empathetic towards Andy, he further tries comfort Andy. Through embodying his sympathy through a piece of stone, it further implies to Andy that despite being brutally