However, only Andy knows that he didn't commit the crimes. Sent to Shawshank Prison to do hard time, Andy - a reserved banker in the outside world - has to learn to get by in the brutal, cut-throat confines of prison life. His quiet strength slowly earns the respect of his fellow inmates, most notably an older black man named Ellis "Red" Redding, and even much of the prison staff.
The use of this quote as an opening line sets up Red's role in the book. "There's a guy like me in state and federal prison in America, I guess-I'm the guy who can get it for you." This quote is one of the best quotes in the whole book because we see the role Red is going to play in the book. When Andy Dufresne is sent to prison he meets up with Red, the man who can get you anything. A strong bond develops between Andy Dufresne and Red. Red has been in Shawshank for a very long time and is very well respected and a bit of a wheeler and dealer and in fact Andy is one of Red’s best customers. While Andy is in prison he spends most of his time by himself. Since he knows all about financial issues he ends up doing some of the guards and wardens taxes. He also takes to running the prison's library.
Dufresne stands out among the lifers in the yard long before Red discovers his real story; the man is a cultivated type who apparently spends his time alone shaping and polishing pieces of quartz from the yard. This dedication to an art form of sorts impresses Red, who thought he had seen it all:
''First the chipping and shaping, and then the almost endless polishing and finishing with those rock-blankets. Looking at them (a pair of cuff links Dufresne has given him in exchange for a favour). I felt the warmth that any man or woman feels when he or she is looking at something pretty, something that has been worked and made - that's the thing that really separates us from the animals, I think - and I felt something else, too. A sense of awe for the man's brute persistence.''
Shawshank Prison is a hard and brutal environment. The inmates are hard, the prison wardens are hard and the governor of the prison is even harder. Into this environment quiet, naïve, and reserved Andy has two life sentences to live out if he survives. However, Andy is a man with hidden reserves!
The Story
Inside Shawshank Prison, which hearsay calls the most brutal in New England, the inmate’s place bets. Spotting the lanky and out of place figure of Andy, Ellis "Red" Redding reckons that he'll be the first to crack. With little fanfare the reasoning behind this prediction becomes clear; the sadistic and swaggering figures of Warden Norton and head guard Capt. Hadley. Driven by the need to prove that they run the tightest, toughest jail within hundreds of miles, arbitrary abuse is frequent. Andy seems to cotton onto this fact pretty quickly, which is why he's not the one who breaks down in a paroxysm of regret; that honour is reserved for Fat Ass). Regrettably he doesn't live to learn from his mistake; Shawshank is hard like that.
Based upon a short story by Stephen King, The Shawshank Redemption is unlike any other adaptation of his work. Mercifully free of cheap horror and overwrought dialogue,
In its heart The Shawshank Redemption is driven by the strength of its performances. Andy, while innocent and overly trusting, this is the key to the strength that sustains him; nothing can crush his optimism. The institutionalised Red ground down by a wasted life. Near enough an organic constituent of the stone walls, there is a hint in his character of loss, regret, bitterness and hopelessness without once admitting to it.
The Film
In 1987 a filmmaker by the name of Frank Darabont wrote to King and requested an option over the novella. King agreed, having been impressed by Darabont's 1983 adaptation of his short story The Woman in the Room, and seven years later The Shawshank Redemption was released to an audience that, having been burned by countless B-grade King adaptations, was entitled to expect the worst.
I know a great many people of varying tastes, and to this day there is exactly one film about which not one person has expressed a negative reaction, and with good reason. The Shawshank Redemption is a film about incarceration which transcends the genre, the combination of King's imagination, Darabont's flair for adaptation and a cadre of fine actors scything through the boundaries of age, class and philosophical inclination, leaving us with a near-perfect creation which proves that entertainment and depth don't have to be mutually exclusive.
The film concerns itself with a twenty-year friendship between Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a banker sentenced to life for the murder of his wife and her lover, and Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), a con who has already been imprisoned for two decades when Dufresne arrives on the scene in 1947. The script charts Andy's attempts to build a new life on the inside, his refusal to lose faith contrasting with Redding's weary resignation, and works its way to a bittersweet finale which proves that even Pyrrhic victories can be a source of satisfaction.
It would have all been for nothing, however, without the universally exceptional efforts of the cast. Whoever was responsible for recruiting the major players exhibited a great deal of faith, not the least in handing one of the lead roles to Robbins, who at the time had few high-profile performances to his name. Robbins is an unusual actor, for he seems at first glance to possess little screen presence or charisma, but he has a talent for getting under the viewer's skin which makes him the man of choice for certain roles. With Shawshank he found his Everest, and the result is one of the most note-perfect performances you're ever likely to see.
Dufresne is not an immediately likeable character - he can seem a little detached, a perception, which is enhanced by Robbins' trademark self-assurance. He is, however, an immediately identifiable character, for his initial foray into prison life effectively recreates the experience you or I would be likely to endure. I couldn't beat off a trio of rapists or develop an instant rapport with my fellow convicts, and neither can Dufresne, so to anyone who has never wielded a lead-weighted pool cue in anger he assumes the guise of a kindred spirit. The result is a character who personifies our fear of being consigned to a ten-foot cell, alone with our fears and memories of happier times, left with nothing, as Red puts it, but "all the time in the world to think about it". It is this identification which lies at the core of the film's success, and it is Robbins' moving, measured performance that makes it work.
About the Film Director
In the late '80s Darabont again approached King, this time asking permission to adapt King's novella, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank redemption. His screenplay The Shawshank redemption (which he also directed) would Win him the USC Scriptor Award (shared with Stephen King) and the Humanitas Prize—in addition to being nominated for an Academy Award, a Writers Guild Award, and a Golden Globe.), battling with Coppola's The Godfather for top honours on their list of best films.
Author
King uses horror, science fiction, and suspense to explore human relationships, how he expands traditional approaches to genre by combining elements of the various genres in his fiction,
Conclusion - The Shawshank Redemption written by Stephen King, is a book that will keep you on your toes until, you finish. The idea of a man being sent to prison for committing murder is a horrible thing. What he goes through while in prison is an experience that no one should go through.
