The Shawshank Redemption: the Nature of Hope

The Shawshank Redemption, a film based off the novel of the same name, is a commentary on the nature of hope.  The film revolves depicts the struggles of two prison inmates (who are serving lifetime sentences) attempting to survive the corrupt and sordid jail that is Shawshank prison.  As the film advances, the bond between the two men, Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, the De facto leader of the inmates, and Andy Dufresne, a cultured banker convicted of murdering his adulterous wife, grows significantly.  A significant theme of the movie concerns the importance of hope.  Red, through Dufresne, ultimately learns that hope is the catalyst for overcoming adversity and despondency.

Upon arriving at the prison, Red notes that all prison inmates initially lament their loss of freedom.  Their outlook on life is further demoralized when the horrors lurking in Shawshank become elucidated.  Overtime, the corrupt prison system completely breaks the minds of the inmates.  The frustration felt over the lack of freedom slowly turns into a complacency: the prisoners now feel unable to function without the oppressive system dominating their lives.  Their reliance on the system becomes so overwhelming that their views on life become distorted; they are incapable of feeling hope and become apathetic regarding their emancipation.  In fact, the outside world becomes wholly alien to them, so much so that many prisoners often do not wish to leave the penitentiary.  The utter consternation that the prisoners feel regarding the outside world is probably best exemplified through the character Brooks.  Brooks, one of the oldest convicts in Shawshank (with one of the longest sentences), is finally released from prison.  After living only a relatively short time on the outside, Brooks is unable to cope with life outside of prison and hangs himself.  According to Red, Brooks was just like all of the other inmates: "institutionalized".

After many more trying years in Shawshank, Red has all but discarded his hope of living happily.  Andy, desperate to leave the prison behind and start life anew mentions his dream of owning a small hotel on the Pacific coast of Mexico.  Incredulous, Red tells him that wistful thinking will only drive him to madness, and that in order to survive, he needs to discard his emotions.  This was the last conversation the two had in prison, as Andy successfully escaped the next day and Red receives parole soon after.  Later on, Red receives a letter from Andy with the directions to his hotel and Mexico and the conviction, "Hope is a good thing.  Maybe the best of things.  And no good thing ever dies."  Andy, through his message, vividly conveys the fact that hope can never drive a man insane.  Rather, it can lead to his salvation (or redemption, as seen in the movie's title).  Without the hope of settling in Mexico, Andy would not have survived his ordeals in Shawshank, and would have become a broken, or "institutionalized" man.  Instead, it led him to persevere and eventually find happiness.  This infectious sense of hope even spreads to the normally phlegmatic Red:

"I hope Andy is down there.
I hope I can make it across the border.
I hope to see my friend and shake his hand.
I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.
I hope."