Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
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Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (1982) is a novella by Stephen King, originally published in Different Seasons (1982). It was filmed as The Shawshank Redemption in 1994. Director Frank Darabont explained in his audio commentary on the film's DVD that the title was shortened since the connection between the story and the actress Rita Hayworth was not strong enough, and that it would give people the wrong idea about what the movie was about.
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[edit] Format of the story
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is presented as a document written by Red, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence at Shawshank, a fictitious prison located in Maine (which is referred to in King's other works, such as It). The reader doesn't find out until towards the end, but all of it is written when the things described have already happened, so he's looking backward over a period of 25 years when writing. Because of this, the text is written as it would be told from one person to another, rather than as a straightforward narrative. King would employ a more radical variation on this technique in his later novel Dolores Claiborne, which also references Shawshank.
Another notable thing is that Red often writes about things that he has not witnessed himself. Since it is a story about prison life, many of the important characters are limited in who they can meet and what they can do. Thus his account sometimes relies on information retold one or more times and general hearsay (although he does acknowledge this himself).
Red tells the story in more or less chronological order, but he also puts in explanations of concepts and people where needed.
[edit] Synopsis
The story of Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption begins in 1947 when Andy Dufresne arrives at Shawshank prison. In contrast to most other convicts, he's not a hardened criminal but a soft-spoken banker, falsely convicted of killing his wife and her lover. Like many in Shawshank, he claims to be innocent.
Like most newcomers, Andy gets in trouble with "The Sisters", a gang of prison rapists led by Bogs Diamond. They 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, 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 it's also the reason that Andy approaches him. Andy's 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 yard 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, uncharacteristically, is rather nervous and excited ("like a teenager ordering a load of Trojans") just to be ordering a pin-up poster, but doesn't think more 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 will 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 is a legal way to avoid taxation of this unexpected windfall. 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, simultaneously gaining the favor of the guard and the other roof workers.
This is the beginning of a long stretch of financial work for Andy. More and more of the prison employees discover that they can use him for tax returns, loan applications, and other things like that. In return for his help, he gets protection from The Sisters and is allowed 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 named Normaden, who soon leaves again. Normaden keeps complaining about the draft in the cell while there.
When Brooksie, the previous prison librarian, is paroled, Andy takes over the prison library and starts to send applications to the state senate for money for books. For a long time, he gets no response to his weekly letters. Finally, he gets some money. Instead of ceasing his letter writing (as the senate probably hoped), he starts writing twice as often. His diligent work allows the library to undergo a significant expansion, and he also helps a number of prisoners earn high school diplomas and degrees, preparing them for life outside.
The warden of Shawshank, Norton, also realizes that a man of Andy's skills is useful. He has started a program called "Inside-Out" where convicts do work outside the prison for very low wages. Normal companies outside can't compete with the cost of Inside-Out workers, so sometimes they bribe Norton not to bid for contracts. This cash has to be laundered somehow, and Andy works for cheap.
One day, Andy hears from another prisoner about someone having bragged about killing a rich golfer and some hot-shot banker's wife, and then getting the banker jailed for it. Hearing this, Andy of course sees the possibility of a new trial since this new evidence proves that he is innocent. Norton scoffs at the story, but when Andy argues with him, Norton sends him to solitary confinement to remind him of his place in prison hierarchy. Norton then interviews the prisoner about his knowledge which could eventually make Andy a free man. In exchange for not talking about the incident, Norton arranges for the inmate to be transferred to a minimum security prison. When Andy returns from solitary, he finds that, in effect, the warden has killed Andy’s only hope for legitimate freedom. Andy is too useful to Norton to be allowed to go, and furthermore he knows things that shouldn't be known outside.
Andy confronts Red, and the two talk at length. Andy mentions his dream of moving to Mexico, and settling down in a small town on the Pacific coastline. Red begins to worry about Andy's state of mind, noting that, "he's talking funny". Andy tells Red that, should he ever get out of Shawshank, to head up to a small town in Maine, called Buxton, and find a specific place. Andy tells him to locate something there, which he had left on a previous occasion.
Several weeks pass. Suddenly, during roll call one day, Andy is discovered missing. After searching the area without finding him, the warden looks in his cell and discovers that the poster on his wall (now showing Raquel Welch) has been concealing an enormous, man-sized hole. Andy has used his rock hammers not just to shape rocks, but to dig a ten meter tunnel through the prison wall. Once through the wall, he has broken into a sewage pipe, crawled 500 yards (the length of five football fields) through it, and gotten out into a ditch near a field beyond the grounds of Shawshank. How he got away from there with no equipment, nobody knows.
Some time later, Red gets a blank postcard from a small town near the U.S.-Mexico border, McNary. Yet later, Red is paroled and starts to try making a life for himself outside the walls. He also begins to hitch-hike to Buxton, searching for suitable hay fields. After a while, he does find one with a rock wall on the correct side, as described. It even has a black rock in it, as Andy said. Under this rock, he finds a sizeable sum of money and a letter addressed to him from Andy. The story ends with Red violating his parole to follow Andy to Mexico.
[edit] Connections
References to Shawshank in King's other works
- A brief mention is made when Jonesy compares his mental prison (confined by the presence of Mr. Gray) to those of Walpole, Danvers, and Shawshank.
- Dolores tells her husband that she will make sure he goes to Shawshank if he touches Selena again.
- Dussander mentions that he purchased stock in 1947 from Andy, and later tells that Andy was later convicted of murder.
[edit] Trivia
- The crime that leads to Andy Dufresne's imprisonment bears many similarities to the Sam Sheppard case.
- The story is reminiscent in some ways to Alexandre Dumas's epic adventure novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.
