In the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, the main character Andy Dufresne is accused of the murder of his wife and her lover. Andy’s wife was having an affair with another man. Andy is sentenced 19 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Andy is put into one of the worst prisons at the time, Shawshank. The life Andy lives at Shawshank is a life no person could imagine.
The first day, Andy was sent to Shawshank on a bus with other inmates. When arriving at the prison, Andy immediately felt a feeling of discomfort. This was the type of prison where people died, got beaten, or tried to escape every day. The first experience Andy had was walking into Shawshank, surrounded by other inmates yelling cruel names, saying things like ‘fresh meat’. Andy, knowing he did not commit a crime and still being punished took a big toll on him. The first night Andy saw things no person could imagine seeing. After seeing these things, Andy thought there was no way he could live with this life. The next few days Andy made a few friends. These were not the type of friends you’d think you’d find in a prison. These were real friends, people Andy went to when he was down. Having these friends still made Shawshank terrible, but just a little bit less knowing he had ‘good’ people to go to.
Andy still has days where he is feeling like life is taking a huge turn for the worse. A couple weeks in Andy still has his friends, but he meets a new friend, Red. Red has been at Shawshank for a while now, Red is the person inmates go to when they need something. Andy realizing this, went to Red and would ask for soda, money, posters, etc. All requests for things turned into a real friendship, a special kind of friendship that lasts forever. Now that Andy has a best friend, he is able to come to ease of the fact that he is still in prison. Andy still goes through rough times; people simply do not like him because they know he is a different kind to enter Shawshank. Andy simply does not try to get into anything bad, he just wakes up every day and does his own thing. Andy was a banker before being put into prison. The guards notice this and hired Andy as their personal Banker. This job allowed Andy to live a little bit better than the other inmates, but he was still not a favorite.
Time had gone by and Andy and Red are still in Shawshank. Red kept getting called into seeing if his speech would allow him to be released. This kind of thing happened to Andy one time, but it never happened for him. Red has walked in and out of that office about six times now. This time, Red walks into the office to a slightly pleasant surprise. Red is being released from Shawshank to live in the real world. As soon as Andy hears this news he is devastated. Andy feels like there is no reason he should keep living this cruel life. The movie portrays that Andy might kill himself simply because he feels like he has nothing anymore. Little did the audience know, Andy had been planning an escape route every day since he got to Shawshank. The night goes by and Andy is gone. The next morning guards find his cell empty and Shawshank is now on lockdown. A huge search is sent out for Andy. Little do they know that Andy’s plan was very successful he is now on the way to a free life. The movie ends with Red and Andy meeting at their secret place.
After watching ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, I realized how much of a hero Andy was throughout the movie. Andy stepped up and did the things no one ever thought could be done. He took the beatings, all of the smack talk and he still proved to everyone who the guilty one was in the situation. Andy made everyone realize that it was definitely not him. I could also consider Red a big hero in the movie also. Red was the person to give everyone anything and not want anything in return. He took his time at Shawshank and lived every day trying to be a better person then he was the day before. Together, Andy and Red made a great team and changed how Shawshank ran things from then on.