Andy Dufresne witnesses the police brutality shown by Hadley throwing around his authority and as a ‘new fish’ has a break down Hadley severely beat him and that night dies waiting for medical attention in the ‘infirmary’. The guards heavy handed approach was one of the main hardships in prison when Andy didn’t have any favour he nearly got thrown off a building for questioning Hadley. The police corruption in ‘Shawshank’ was definitely some of the ‘shit’ they had to endure when in prison. If you are not in favour with the guards or Hadley you will be in a lot of trouble. Andy Dufresne started helping Hadley with him finances and eventually was a type of financier for the jails guards and eventually the Warden. Once Andy was the financier he started getting easier treatment and ‘got looked after’ by them. In a way Andy was tarnished by this corrupt role his was playing for the Warden in which he started laundering money around for Warden.
Once he arrived in jail Andy was targeted by the sisters. Bogs came up to Andy early and asked if ‘anyone is getting at him yet’ while Andy told Bogs he was not a homosexual and walked away. Andy did not realise how much ‘shit’ was going to be thrust upon him. ‘The sisters’ now had their target set on him especially the leader of the ‘sisters’ Bogs. Bogs looked at Andy as a sort of challenge. The isster persued him until he was alone and then the Bogs and two of the sisters came and assualted him.
Once the sisters got a hold of him it became a routine and every so often “Andy would show up with fresh new bruises. The sisters kept at him and Andy kept on trying to fend them off and that’s how it went for According to Red a “vulnerable newcomer is repeatedly subjugated and victimised during his first two years”.
Although being victimised raped and picked on by the sisters Andy never broke. The sisters then cornered him in the projection room and Andy is threatened with a sharp steel spike in his ear if he doesn't perform oral sex for them. Bogs demands: "I'm gonna open my fly and you're gonna swallow what I give you to swallow." Andy replies with any piercing to thebrain automatically makes a strong bite reflex and "Anything you put in my mouth you're gonna lose." The sisters then replied with beating Andy to an inch of his life. During Andy’s tarring top of the Prison he strikes a deal with Hadley for finances. Hadley looking out for his financier was waiting for bogs after a week in the hole and beat him "Two things never happened again after that. The Sisters never laid a finger on Andy again. And Bogs never walked again..."
After all that Andy Dufresne’s spirit was not broken infact he seemed to be even more positive than usual with the sisters off his back. Andy had to go through all the hardships that included Tommy the man who informed him that he knew who the real murderer of his wife was and seeing him get shot dead for what he knew because potentially it could ruin the Warden. After this moment of seeing Tommy dies and spending 1 month in the hole Andy seemed to have enough and looked suicidal but escaped through 19 years of pick hammering the wall through to the sewers he “crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.” Not only did he escape he was free from the jail lifestyle and the shit that went on in prison.
Andy Dufresne “crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.” He was a free man and was totally clean on the outside world. Maybe he broke out of jail but he wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place so what crime did he really commit? He lost 19 years in a maximum security jail having to deal with constant rapings, beatings, corruption and emotional distress but he still was a free man who was happy.
