English Literature and Film
Unit 1: The Shawshank Redemption
elements of fiction
Scott DeWaelsche
3/19-3/21
Study Questions 1
1. The narrator, Red, describes himself as “the guy who
can get it for you.” What does this mean?
2. What advice does Andy give Hadley? What do you
think motivated Andy to give Hadley advice?
3. What was Tommy’s story about the murder of
Andy’s wife and her lover? Why was it important?
4. How did Andy escape?
5. What do you think is the theme (central idea) of the
film? (write it as a short sentence). Explain.
Study Questions 2
1. Why does Andy ask Red for the rock hammer? Why
is it important to him?
2. How are Red and Andy similar?
3. When Andy goes to Warden Norton and explains
about the new information, Norton refuses to help
him. Why?
4. How did this affect Andy? (see question 3)
5. What do you think is the theme (central idea) of the
film? (write it as a short sentence). Explain.
Study Questions 3
1. Why does Andy keep fighting the ‘sisters’? What
does this say about him?
2. Andy begins performing many illegal services for
the guards, including the warden. Why?
3. What happened to Norton after Andy escaped?
Why do you think this happened?
4. What is Red’s biggest fear about being released to
the outside world? Why?
5. What do you think is the theme (central idea) of the
film? (write it as a short sentence). Explain.
Study Questions 4
1. Andy builds the prison library up from nothing. How
does he do it? Why does he do it? What does this
tell you about him?
2. What do you think is the climax of the story?
3. Why did Warden Norton kill himself?
4. Why did Andy wait so long to escape?
5. What do you think is the theme (central idea) of the
film? (write it as a short sentence). Explain.
Study Questions 5
1. What do you think is the main conflict of the film?
What type of conflict is this?
2. Andy begins performing many illegal services for
the guards, including the warden. Why?
3. What is important about the postcard Red receives
from McNary, Texas?
4. Who is Peter Stevens?
5. What do you think is the theme (central idea) of the
film? (write it as a short sentence). Explain.
Study Questions 6
1. How is setting important to the story? Explain.
2. What is the meaning behind all the different posters
Andy hangs in his cell? (Symbolism)
3. Why do you think that Andy confides in Red and
tells him all this information?
4. Was the warden a static or dynamic character?
Why?
5. What do you think is the theme (central idea) of the
film? (write it as a short sentence). Explain.
Added Questions
1. What is Red’s biggest fear about being released to
the outside world?
2. Why did Andy wait so long to escape?
3. Who is Peter Stevens?
4. Was the warden a static or dynamic character?
Why?
5. Describe Andy’s crime against his wife.
Symbolism: Group Discussion
What was important about all the posters Andy
hangs in his cell? What do they symbolize?
As payment from the guard, Andy only asks for
beers. What do you think the beers
‘symbolize’ for the prisoners?
The Shawshank Redemption Elements
of Fiction: Plot
• Conflict: Three types of conflict exist
- man against man: Andy vs. Norton
- man against society: Andy, Red vs. The law
- man against himself: The prisoners dealing
with the difficulty of being locked up.
As Red said, “Every man has his breaking
point.”
The Shawshank Redemption Elements
of Fiction: Plot
• Climax: The climax of the film occurs when
Andy is found missing and breaks out of jail. At
the same time he is seen going to the bank
and stealing the warden’s money. Finally, the
warden is also turned in by Andy for his
crimes. (1:47:22 – 2:04)
The Shawshank Redemption Elements
of Fiction: Character
• Protagonist – Andy, and probably Red
• Antagonists – The Court, the lawyer, the
judge, Warden Norton, the guards, the prison,
the Sisters
The Shawshank Redemption Elements
of Fiction: Character
• Round, Dynamic – Andy, Red
• Flat, Static – Guard Hadley, and to a lesser
extent, Warden Norton.
• Was Warden Norton a flat, static character?
The Shawshank Redemption Elements
of Fiction: Setting
• The setting of the story, Shawshank prison, is
very important to the plot because it is a big
part of the conflict. We could say that the
prison was the problem, for Andy and the
other prisoners.
• So the setting was like a character in the story.
The Shawshank Redemption Elements
of Fiction: Theme
• The Problem of Isolation and Imprisonment
• There are many levels of isolation inside
Shawshank, from the large, enclosed
recreation yard to the smaller work crews
down to the cellblock, cells, and, finally,
solitary confinement. The bars, strict
schedules, evil guards and Sisters make it feel
worse for the prisoners.
The Shawshank Redemption Elements
of Fiction: Theme
• The Problem of Isolation and Imprisonment
• The hardened criminals are insecure, outcasts,
many of whom believe they can’t function
outside the prison. Red sees Andy as the part
of himself who never let go of the idea of
freedom. Freedom is a frightening concept for
Red, who dreams of being paroled.
The Shawshank Redemption Elements
of Fiction: Theme
• The Power of Hope
• Hope, more than anything else, drives the inmates at
Shawshank and gives them the strength to live. Andy’s
strength to escape keeps him from dying of frustration
and anger in solitary confinement. Andy makes hope a
reality by tunneling his way through his concrete cell
wall. Even Andy’s good attitude however eventually
weakens because of prison life. Red says that Tommy’s
story that he could prove Andy’s innocence was like a
key unlocking a cage in Andy’s mind, a cage that
released a tiger called Hope.
The Shawshank Redemption Elements
of Fiction: Theme
• The Power of Hope
• This hope reinvigorates Andy and spreads to
many of the other inmates in the prison. In his
letter addressed to Red, Andy writes that “hope is
a good thing,” which in the end is all that Red has
left. Red’s decision to go to Mexico to find Andy is
the ultimate proof of Red’s own hope. Red used
to have no hope but he changed. Red’s closing
words as he leaves for Mexico, show that hope is
still difficult and that he is still uncertain.
The Shawshank Redemption Elements
of Fiction: Theme
• Freedom is in the mind – Andy says that they
can’t get in to our heads, they can’t take what
we have inside. He means that in our minds,
we are free, and they can’t take it away.
Next Week: Rear Window – Alfred
Hitchcock
• Based on the short story “It Had to be
Murder,” by Cornell Woolrich
• Homework: Watch Rear Window
* This film is considered one of the greatest of
all time.