The Sociological Analysis Of Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption

Beside the terrifying horrors, written by Stephen King, the realistic and deeply psychological novel “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank redemption” seems very unusual. It lacks horrific clowns or extremely dangerous viruses, but still attracts the reader’s attention. Despite the powerful psychological background, the social motives in the story-line prevail. Through the images of Andy Dufresne, description of in-prison social reality and lesser characters, the author depicts the entire American society with the wide range of its internal problems, values and concerns.
The prison community is one of best ones to be analyzed through the sociological perspective. It could provide insight into several unique characteristics of the inter-human relations, power, attitude toward money and wealth. Moreover, it gives an author a possibility to depict important social problems and concerns. The concept of power is the first sociological issue to be addressed in the novel. The thorough analysis of text leaves no doubt that a prison is a model of a whole society, containing its own relations of subjugation and leadership. As well as in real life, the leadership can be either formal or informal. Prison guards and wardens represent the first one. They have formal legal appointment and

The last are the single rule makers, who create both formal and informal regulations. The first ones are set forth in the laws and statutes, while the second are unwritten and describe the opposition concerned more precisely. Rigidity and brutality of these unwritten rules depend on the personality of the warden. It fluctuates from the allowance of black market “to let off steam from the pressure-cooker” to “moonlight burials” of Gregg Stemmas or “Bread and water Norton’s diet” (22,