The Shawshank Redemption
When prison shows up in front you, which film firstly comes into your mind, Felon, Prison Break, Escape Plan, or maybe other Hollywood blockbusters? For me, The Shawshank Redemption is the one. As lots of people said, all of men have to watch this film, if don’t, they will definitely regret in their life. However, I can’t totally agree with this kind of opinion. Even though there is no leading actress in the film, it has nothing to with the audiences’ genders, because no matter what you are, as a flesh-and-blood human being, you can feel the passion and insistence of pursuing hope, freedom in this film, meanwhile, you also can realize how upset and pitiful an institutionalized person can be.
It was the first year of my college life when I watched The Shawshank Redemption. I’ve watched it for more than five times until now, and each time I got different experience and feelings about this special artwork. At the first time, I just thought lots of people liked it, because so many friends around me were talking about it very often. Then I told myself maybe I should watch it in order to find some similarities with others. Although this film hadn’t had exciting fights and many world-known stars for me two years ago, it still made a deep impression on me and made me
awfully moved. The most impressive person to me at that time, now he still is the one, of course, was Andy.
Andy had to serve two life sentences for he murdered his wife and her lover, he tried to defend for himself because his was innocent, all of the evidence was against him, however. After having made up him mind to escape from the prison, Andy never gave up his
―career‖—to dig a tunnel with a tiny hammer. This was the primary virtue that I loved him so much. He would never speak empty words, that is, if he decided to do something, he would insist on no matter how many people lack faith in him, even laughed at him. Red, one of the old and important persons in the prison, said that it would take 600 years to excavate a route to the hope. Yet the truth was: Andy spent 20 years digging a tunnel to get to the outside world. Later, when I became a sophomore, I constantly watched The Shawshank Redemption around three times, and I got a deeper understanding of it. Lots of questions came to me -- Why did the court announce Andy guilt and put him in prison? Why did no officials discover that Andy laundered money for the warden, Norton? Why could Andy make a person who had been existed before he escaped from the Shawshank? These questions were
seemly not easy to answer, but one word, flaws in the system, could
make it.
When Andy was sent to the Shawshank, he tried to keep himself from troubles as he didn’t speak a word of anything. He knew he was guiltless, but he still could do nothing to prove his innocence. Andy was put in prison which indicated that there were some flaws in the judicial system. Many years dragged by, Andy gradually showed his talent of banking, and he helped solve the tax problems of the guards and accumulate the filthy wealth for Norton, which implied that the tax evasion and corruption were very serious. More than twenty years of bitter life in the prison, Andy finally fled from the Shawshank and lived a brand new life in Zihuatanejo. Had the
judgment not been erroneous, Andy probably would not have been sent to jail. Had the system been clear, Andy probably would not become Norton’s laundering machine. Had the system been
complete, Andy probably would not live a peaceful life any more. The most important thing was: if the system was exactly unbroken, The Shawshank Redemption would never be a success. Therefore, I persuaded myself – it was a matter of human nature instead of the system, because any sound systems were manipulated by man. The manipulators have a profound impact on the system: they were in integrity, so were the system; the manipulators were corrupt, so the whole system would be same.
The above views might not be correct, but I couldn’t think about it. Fortunately, Andy challenged the official guards several times to enjoy the freedom and hope in the darkness. He gave the chief prison guard advice on the tax problems at the risk of his life to require some beer for his coworkers. He persisted in writing letters to the state senate to ask for fund so as to reform and expand the library. He ventured to broadcast Mozart’s music all over the prison to remind his inmates of the freedom and hope. Let put this in another way, Andy challenged not only the guards but also the systems.
Recently, I’ve watched this blockbuster again, and I learned one word, institutionalize, which has become a buzzword in my class. Red had serviced in the prison for several decades, he called himself an institutionalized man. He held a firm belief that he might be useful in the prison, because he could get things for the inmates, on the contrary, he would fail to make it on the outside world where people made great changes. Red had already lost his hope after having spent most of his life in the prison, and his belief was more intensified when the old Brooks committed suicide during his
parole. It was the most essential point that made Red different from Andy who had hope to support himself after being abused by three of his inmates, keep himself alive during the punishment in the
solitary cell, and urge himself to make a way to the freedom. The old Red was an institutionalized man, so he had to report the manager when he wanted to pee during the work. Red had the exact same feelings—failed to adapt to the rapid changing world and lived in fear--- as Brooks during his parole. If he didn’t make promise to Andy, he would be dead somehow. After meeting his commitment, Red really started his new journey as Andy told Red ―Hope is a good thing, and no good thing ever dies.‖ On his way to find Andy, Red finally pick up his hope --- he hoped he could make it across the border; he hoped to see Andy and shake his hands; he hoped the Pacific was as blue as it had been in his dreams. Andy and Red, two similar men almost had nothing in common in the
Shawshank, they eventually alienated themselves from the darkness and appreciated the sunshine in Zihuatanejo.
The reason why people become institutionalized is that they shut their hope and dreams in the bottom of their heart. Once they
manage to retrieve their freedom, dream and hope, they will have no chance to be institutionalized. I don’t know how many people will be so peaceful and generous like Andy in the worst time. But I do
believe that people who can tolerate and forgive things having hurt them before will understand the essence of life more precise than
the ordinaries. It will be better for people to play their own roles in life rather than waste time, because ―Get busy living or get busy dying‖ is the truth of life.
Andy Dufresne，他的智慧战胜了漏洞百出的制度；他的理性战胜了野蛮狂暴的本能；他的意志战胜了冷酷无情的时间；他战胜了肖申克
的石墙；他战胜了他自己；他战胜了一切。
他战胜了一切，却输给了，Forrest Gump。
These walls are kind of funny like that. First you hate them, then
you get used to them. Enough time passed, get so you depend on
them. That’s institutionalizing