Character Study of Shawshank Redemption
This is a writing sample from Scripted writer Tracy Ruckman
Character Study of Shawshank Redemption by Tracy Ruckman, March 2015
The writers of The Shawshank Redemption use CHARACTER in five ways to convey the story: emotions, time period, reality, a hero’s journey, language.
Most of the main characters in The Shawshank Redemption cause the audience to experience a variety of emotions – sadness, sympathy, satisfaction, and anger are just a few of those emotions. With Brooks, we experience sympathy through his caring and feeding of a baby crow to his desperate actions on news of his pending release, and sadness with his attempts of acclimating to the outside world, and then with his suicide. We experience satisfaction when Williams reveals Andy’s innocence, then on Andy’s escape, then, with Red’s release. Anger towards Bogs is palpable, and we’re able to satisfy that anger when the guards beat him.
The characters also keep us centered in the time period of the film. One example of this is after Brooks’ release, when he writes a letter to Red and the others that mentions cars in a voice-over: “I saw an automobile once when I was young. Now they’re everywhere.” The character’s music choices also reflect the time period. When Andy receives all the record albums (also a reflection of the time period), Heywood wants to hear Hank Williams.
Bogs’ character keeps us cemented in the reality of prison life. We see what’s arguably the worst aspect of prison life. His character reminds us that this isn’t just a friend gathering where things turn out okay, but that life is dirty and cruel.
Both characters of Andy and Red provide “hero” journeys. One of Andy’s lines is the most telling about his character and about the story as a whole. “It’s funny. On the outside, I was an honest man. Straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook” (167). We follow Andy’s hero journey from law-abiding citizen to criminal, yet we aren’t let in on his deepest secrets – his work to escape – until the final scenes. Red’s role as narrator and storyteller provides both a continuity and an inside scoop to prison life – before and after Andy’s time there.
The language of individual characters reveals their education and upbringing. Norton, Andy, and Red speak with proper grammar, revealing an education. The speech of Hadley, Bogs, and Tommy is filled with filth, while Brooks has bad grammar – both signs of minimal education.
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