The Shawshank Redemption Reading (and Film) Journal

A book version of Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

                  Before I started my reading upon the book Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King, the one--and only--information I had about the novel was that it was reformed into an extremely famous film. And to be honest, I was actually unwilling at the first to start reading the novel because (as long as I knew) Stephen King was an author known for his outstanding skills in depicting horror and thriller scenes, while thriller is one of the literary genres that I don't like the most.

                 And as I begun my journey on reading about the exciting life of Andy Dufresne, one thing constantly came to the mind: How did he [Stephen King] know all these things? How did he happen to know about the prison "cons" calling someone new a "fresh fish"? About the intense sexual abuse being practiced by the "sisters"? And what about all those minor details such as the warden's inside-out policies (which truly did exist) and the successful "prison break" cases? How could a simple novel be this much realistic and authentic? 

                  And of course, there is no need to mention King's excellent skills in establishing a truly interesting plot and his descriptive skills that made the novella a brilliant one indeed. The novella, interestingly, had a former murderer, Red, as the narrator. I believe this choice has enabled the author to fully utilize his priory knowledge (which was extremely pragmatic and detailed) about prison life, though objectivity as a third person was something that had to be sacrificed. The slight tinge of humor in the phrase "Oh s*** it's s***!" also cracked me up while reading through the process of intense search for the escaped prisoner.

                    Then there was the movie. So great and so awesome. Honestly, when I heard Mr. Garrioch saying that the movie is one of those movies that are better than the original work, I doubted it because the book was so nice and I believed nothing (especially "nothing" for a movie, regarding how the Harry Potter had deteriorated my beautiful fantasy about Hogwarts) could be more awesome than the way it was.

                    However, I realized what Mr. Garrioch has been talking about when I finally saw the movie. Not only the acting of the actors were great, but also the slight variations and modifications were significant in emphasizing the main theme of the novella (which I will be further explaining in the later parts of my writing). A good example could be Bradley being depicted as somewhat more violent figure, which showed the cruelty and the inhumane reality in prison life. 

A picture of Andy finally FREE!

                     So what did I think about the main theme of the novella (and the movie)? Well, I guess I should start by defining what the main idea was in the work.
                     After finishing the novella and seeing the credits of the movie go up, the one word that came to my mind was "institutionalized." The theme was briefly but significantly dealt in the novella by multiple of small cases such as Brooks' return to the jail. The movie went on to magnify this idea by details such as Brooks committing suicide, Red saying that "he couldn't go to a bathroom with ease if he didn't get the boss's permission", and such.
                     As I am (unlike Stephen King) nothing close to knowing how much the contemporary prison has changed from the 70s' isolating and institutionalizing system, it is hard for me to simply criticize the society's way of keeping care of its criminals. However, what thing is sure: the way the prisoners are living currently is hardly getting any attention from the "normal" and "ordinary" people.
                    And one thing more sure is that, if the government decides to leave the prisoners "just the way they are," the former criminals would not be able to successfully adapt to the society easily. And what happens if the criminals find themselves alienated and isolated from the normal people? They are motivated to take such actions which would bring them money and fame, a source of successful adaption to the society. Possibly another crime, perhaps.
                    Another problem with former-criminal exclusion is that the nation could end up losing a person of great potential and ability who could provide the society with colossal material (or somehow, psychological) help. Think about the type of person Andy Dufresne was. He was able to snowball warden Norton's money through useful investing skills, and he was known as a competitive banker in the world "outside the walls." But due to the nation's imperfect prion capacity, it ended up sending the talented banker to a some Mexican town when he could have dedicated so much to U.S.