Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption :: essays research papers

The story of Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption begins in 1948 when Andy Dufresne arrives at Shawshank prison. In contrast to most other convicts, hes not a located criminal but a soft-spoken banker, convicted of killing his wife and her lover. Like everyone in Shawshank, he claims to be innocent. Like most newcomers, Andy recovers in trouble with the sisters. They ar a gang of sodomites led by Bogs Diamond that gang up on anyone they feel they can handle, and Andy is no exception. Not until much later does he escape their attentions. Red, the narrator of the story, is known as the guy who can get stuff. His ability to deliver contraband of almost any type into Shawshank makes him somewhat of a celebrity among prisoners, and its also the reason that Andy approaches him. Andys hobby outside the walls was rock-carving, and now he has immense amounts of free time on his hands, so he asks Red to get him a rock hammer. He uses this to shape small rocks he finds in the exercise yar d into small sculptures. The next item he orders from Red is a large poster of Rita Hayworth. When taking the order, Red reflects that Andy is excited like a teenager just for ordering a pin-up poster, but doesnt think much of it then. One spring day, Andy and Red and some other prisoners are tarring a roof when Andy overhears a guard griping over the amount of tax he pass on have to pay on an inheritance he has just gotten from a run-away brother. Andy approaches him (almost getting thrown off the roof in the process) and tells him that there are level-headed ways to avoid taxation. He offers to help him with all the necessary paperwork for the operation, in exchange for some beer for himself and the other prisoners on the roof. This is the beginning of a long carry of economic work for Andy. More and more of the screws discover that they can use him for tax returns, loan applications, and other things like that. In return for his help, he gets guard from the sisters and is al lowed to stay alone in his cell instead of having a cellmate like most other prisoners. For a short period, he shares a cell with an Indian called Normaden, but he soon leaves again. He keeps complaining about the draught in the cell while there.