Justine Pipitone
AP English Language and Composition
Mr. Jennings
FD Due April 13th, 2014
Literary Analysis RHATSR
Fairness does not exist. We get the illusion of fairness in games, and we give young
children a false belief in fairness, but does that make fairness real? Are we helping or hurting? In
reality even systems built to achieve fairness are corrupted and cheated. “Rita Hayworth and the
Shawshank Redemption” is one of four novellas written in Different Seasons by Stephen King,
and it illustrates the pure unfairness every human being comes to terms with. Though
exaggerated, “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” represents a reality that most
people try to defy, the reality that no situation at any time in your life will ever be fair, because
fair simply does not exist. Although the average human being has likely never been accused of
murder, put in prison, and dug themselves through their cell wall to freedom, Stephen King
illustrates a general situation that everyone has been in.
It’s interesting the amount of trust the public has in their government. The government
and it’s justice system claim they work their hardest to deliver safety and “fairness” to its people.
“Innocent until proven guilty,” “equal opportunity,” even terms such as “freedom of speech”
have their corruptions. Andy Dufresne is sent to Shawshank prison despite the lack of evidence
the court had against him. There was no hard evidence, no real proof that Dufresne murdered his
wife and her lover, yet the court found him guilty and he was sent to prison for life. How many
men and women have been sent to prison, or even given the death sentence for a crime they did
not commit? How many Andy Dufresnes has the “justice” system passed over? Justice and
fairness are defined as synonyms, meaning that the justice system is literally designed to deliver
fairness to the public, but even the “fairness” system has its imperfections. Jurors can be biased,
evidence could be falsified, and, as Andy Dufresne suspects, witnesses could be corrupted, “I’m
not saying that he deliberately falsified his story, or perjured himself. I think it’s possible that he
could have passed a lie detector test with flying colors, or sworn on his mother’s sacred name
that I bought those dishtowels. But still… memory is such a goddamn subjective thing.” (51).
The amount of ways in which the courts could be corrupted are countless. So, how is this fair?
How is it that a system named for its fairness and that has been worked on and attempted to be
perfected for hundreds of years can still be so unfair?
Unfairness isn’t only present in large systems such as the government. Unfairness lives in
every aspect of life, and most commonly between two individuals. This tends to happen between
a person of “higher social status” and a person with relatively no social status at all. It’s seen
from playground bullies to company executives. Children are taught from their parents that
fairness is primal, but it doesn’t take long before those same children realize that their parents
were really blinding them, and that unfairness is the reality. Andy Dufresne is cheated by
Warden Norton after Tommy Lanthrop believes he can vouch for Andy’s innocence. Warden
Norton being the individual of “higher social status” and Andy Dufresne being the individual
with virtually no social status whatsoever. Andy has the opportunity to prove that his is innocent,
and Warden Norton prevents Andy from ever being able to act upon that opportunity. Norton
gets Andy’s financial assistance for free, and he has no intention of giving Andy any opportunity
of depriving him of that assistance, “I like you right where you are, Mr. Dufresne, and as long as
I am warden here at Shawshank, you are going to be right here.” (191.) Norton is higher in social
status, and his word as warden holds permanent ground over Andy’s as an inmate. How can
fairness exist in a world where “Good Karma” only comes to those in higher social positions?
Why is it that whatever course you take in your life determines how much of a man you should
be treated as? For are we not all beings of the same species?
In games rules are created to achieve the closest resemblance of equality. In society laws
are created with the same motivation. But even in situations specifically engineered to provide
equal opportunity to every individual we still find ourselves favored or screwed. Think about it,
arm wrestling has rules, correct? You lock hands with your opponent, keep your elbow on the
table, and try to pin the other persons arm down. Do these rules make this game fair? One of the
contenders will have more muscle, endurance, or strategy than the other. Someone will always
have the upper hand in every situation whether it’s physically, emotionally, or intellectually.
Andy Dufresne finds himself on both ends of this generalization. Andy’s run-ins with “the
sisters” undoubtedly handed him the short end of the stick. Physically Andy had no chance
against the sisters, but what can you do when someone has total power over you? Nothing.
Absolutely nothing. Despite Andy’s recessive physical position among some of the other
inmates, he certainly has the upper hand when it comes to the financial game at Shawshank
prison. Andy expresses that superiority when he approaches Byron Hadley about keeping his
money in his own pocket rather than the government’s.
“It was man against man, and Andy simply forced him, the way a strong man can force a
weaker man’s wrist to the table in a game of Indian rasseling. There was no reason, you
see, why Hadley couldn’t’ve given Mert the nod at that very minute, pitched Andy
overside onto his head, and still taken Andy’s advice.
No reason. But he didn’t.” (121.)
Andy knew he could gain the upper hand on Hadley financially. As Red states, Hadley could’ve
easily tossed Andy over the side, but in that instance Andy knew he was the dominant being.
Andy was a high end banker in his life outside of Shawshank and he knew that there was no
possibility that a prison guard knew more about IRS “gifts” than he did. By explaining to Hadley
how he could keep his money out of the hands of the IRS, Andy “flexed his muscle” and showed
what he was capable of. Hadley would’ve had no chance at that money without Andy Defresne,
and he knew it. Andy had an unfair, but friendly advantage over Hadley financially. We find
ourselves in these positions everyday, where we may be more advanced in one area of our lives
than the other. Everyone has their own individual set of skills, and how can any situation be fair
if not every single person is exactly the same? It can’t.
Every unfairness boils down to every individual being unlike any other. Every person
has their own skill set, their own interests. For instance, someone majoring in biology is more
likely to be able to explain the effect light has on photosynthesis than an individual majoring in
literature. The tables would certainly be turned if it was a question of the time period’s effect on
writing style. Andy Dufresne was a banker who had an interest in rocks, and as a direct result of
this Andy would have the upper hand over someone like Red when it came to savings bonds and
limestone characteristics. Red spent more time in Shawshank than Andy did, so certainly Red
knew more about the inner workings of prison life and criminal behavior than Andy could have
imagined. No person is the same in any instance, not every biology major knows an equal
amount about light’s effect on photosynthesis as every other biology major, just like every
literature major does not know an equal amount about a time period’s effect on writing styles as
every other literature major. Like Charles Darwin’s Fitness theory, the individual who is better
adapted to the situation will strive.
Even in friendships fairness isn’t present. Of course, there is a lesser presence of
unfairness as well, but that doesn’t distract from the fact that in friendships there is always one
person who is “more of a friend” than the other. One person is always doing a favor for another,
always helping the other with their problems, or always being more honest than the other. Too
often does it happen that one person gets invested in a friendship while the other is defying them
in one of many ways. This makes friendships seem like wars, which they shouldn’t be, but there
is no such thing as an equal friendship. Perhaps the one person doesn’t mind the inequality in
their friendship, which would avoid conflict entirely, and most of the time the friend treated the
least fairly doesn’t even notice. Andy and Red’s friendship begins as a business relationship, Red
gets Andy the goods he desires but he does it at an unfair cost. Eventually it reverses on the
fairness spectrum. Red knows where Andy is going when he digs his way out of prison, and
through the bonds of friendship Andy expects Red not to reveal to the authorities where he is
going. Does that seem fair you, Hiding information from the police and possibly getting yourself
into more trouble? That is what friendship is, a collection of unfair situations that somehow
reflect love.
Different Seasons by Stephen King is a collection of novellas illustrating all of life’s
unfairness. And though the other stories reflect different specific types of unfairness, “Rita
Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” reflects every type of unfairness in every type of
situation. In Government, in social systems, and in every individual relationship there is no
indication that the word “fair” has any meaning whatsoever. Fairness does not exist.