TOW #15: Shawshank Redemption

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to (finally) watch "Shawshank Redemption", a short story written by Stephen King that was eventually adapted into a screenplay by Frank Darabont. Wrongly accused of murdering his wife and her lover, banker Andy Duframe is sentenced to life in prison. In Shawshank, Andy befriends Red, a man who is able to smuggle Andy a small hammer. Throughout the years, Andy builds a library and helps the prison workers with financial paperwork, gaining trust and respect from not only his fellow inmates, but also from the guards and the warden, himself. One day, a new inmate arrives, who tells another inmate that he killed a banker's wife and lover. When Andy finds out of this news, he tells the warden, who has the inmate shot. In the end, Andy escapes prison with the hammer Red smuggled for him and Red passes the parole board, the two men eventually reuniting in a Pacific Mexican town.
This movie's purpose seemed to convey two main ideas: hope never dies and persistence is key. Hope is something that belongs to its owner, and only its owner. If you have it, "nothing good ever dies". Also, you must be persistent. Andy was persistent in writing letters to the state in order to get funds to expand the prison library. After years of persistent writing, a check finally came as well as donations. These two main lessons seemed to really focus on those who might think they are at the end of the line, too close to the end with nowhere else to turn. King and Darabont effectively used pathos and ethos to make a poignant statement to their audiences. Inmates were either beaten to death or committed suicide because of everything being "too much" to handle. These deaths showed the audience that death was not the answer. No matter how hard and impossible some things may seems, if you are persistent and continue to have hope, things will work out. Maybe not now, but at some point. Ethos was used to support this unstated claim. Andy and Red eventually made it out of prison and found peace. It took over 20 years but it happened, nonetheless and the author and director wanted to show that the "good" will eventually come.