The Shawshank Redemption as a Religious Allegory
Andy Dufresne — A man without sin
In The Shawshank Redemption, a movie adapted from Stephen King’s story Rita Hayworth, the prison represents life, getting out of prison represents death and Andy Dufresne is Christ.
From Camus’ The Stranger to the movie Cool Hand Luke, prisons often play an important role in both literature and pop culture. Why does this appeal to us so much? Most of us have not been in prison, yet stories of characters enduring the hardship of being locked up intrigue us.
Often, a literary reference of a character confined to prison with no real chance of freedom represents a person thrust into a hopeless life, struggling to find meaning and longing for peace away from the walls of the prison (afterlife).
The Shawshank Redemption explores this genre beautifully. The movie, more than the short story by Stephen King, parallels the tale of Christ in the Christian Bible through the character of Andy Dufresne.
Andy is sent to prison for a crime he did not commit
Andy Dufresne, the only innocent man in Shawshank, is sent to a prison filled with guilty men.
According to Christianity, Christ, the only man without sin, was sent to live on Earth among a world of sinners.
The movie starts off in a pre-Christ, Old Testament era.
Warden Norton tells the new inmates, “I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you’ll receive both.”
Before Christ, the Bible offers no real hope for sinners. God was seemingly harsh and unforgiving.
Before Andy, Shawshank was an equally harsh and rigid place.
Andy’s miracles
During his time in prison, Andy performs miracles and develops a following of disciples.
Acquiring funds to redo the library and getting beer for his fellow roofers are just two of the miracles he performs.
The prisoners are starting to take note of these miracles.
One prisoner named Red, the narrator, describes the moment on the hot roof drinking beer,
“We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the lords of all creation. As for Andy — he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer.”
Andy’s miracle made them feel like free men. Like there was something beyond the walls of the prison. Andy’s miracle gave them the remnants of the faraway and dangerous notion of hope.
When Andy locks himself in the office and plays music over the intercom, all the prisoners stop and listen. They receive the message like a congregation receiving a sermon searching for love and hope.
Red describes the impact the music (sermon) had on the masses,
“I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.”
Redemption
The prisoners are starting to see the possibility of hope and salvation.
Like Christ in the New Testament, Andy teaches his fellow prisoners through his actions and short sermons. Although wary at first, the inmates warm up to him and start really believing in him.
Andy develops a close friendship with Red, an inmate who is a good person but without any real hope of ever being paroled (finding redemption). Andy tells Red about a place like a paradise (heaven) in Mexico where one could go, even as a sinner.
Andy asks Red, “You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific?
Red simply says, “ No.”
Andy continues, “They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.”
Andy is describing a paradise where sins are forgiven and one can live into eternity.
Crucified
Finally, the time for Andy to escape prison is at hand. He has dug his way through the wall, entered a large sewer pipe, and crawls through a sewer to freedom.
As Red describes it, “five hundred yards of shit smelling foulness I can’t even imagine”
Red goes on to say, “Andy Dufresne — who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side…headed for the Pacific. (heaven)”
This is Andy’s passion of Christ; his walk to the cross to be martyred.
When he emerges from the sewer, he looks to the heavens and is cleansed by the rain. If we haven’t got the biblical reference yet, he sticks out his arms as if crucified and holds the pose.
Resurrection
The next morning, the warden finds an empty jail cell (the empty tomb) and says, “Lord! It’s a miracle! Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind!” Although he thinks he is being sarcastic, his dialog acknowledges that a miracle truly has occurred.
When Andy is suddenly gone, the inmates are stunned.
Red says, “I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they’re gone. I guess I just miss my friend.”
But, Andy still lives and they receive a postcard confirming that and they know that he is now in paradise. This comforts them.
Red is starting to get the idea of redemption. He tells the parole board,
“There’s not a day goes by I don’t feel regret. Not because I’m in here, because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone, and this old man is all that’s left. I got to live with that.”
Red is truly sorry for his sins. He is not asking his fellow men for forgiveness but for a higher power. He is subsequently paroled.
Red has now left prison and is preparing for life after prison (afterlife).
Red has some difficult choices to make but Andy’s words ring loudly in our minds, “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.”
Red narrates, “There’s a harsh truth to face. No way I’m gonna make it on the outside. All I do anymore is think of ways to break my parole, so maybe they’d send me back. Terrible thing, to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. Knew it all too well. All I want is to be back where things make sense. Where I won’t have to be afraid all the time. Only one thing stops me. A promise I made to Andy.”
Red makes the choice to follow the instructions that Andy gave him once during a jail-yard conversation. Look for a specific field and tree and there would be something waiting there for him.
He finds the field and the tree where there is a message for him.
Dear Red, If you’re reading this, you’ve gotten out And if you’ve come this far, maybe you’re willing to come a little further. (whosoever belief in me shall not perish, but have everlasting life) You remember the name of the town, don’t you? I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. I’ll keep an eye out for you and the chessboard ready. Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. (everlasting life) I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend Andy
Red has believed in Andy and done everything Andy has asked of him. Now he can join him in paradise. Red narrates his trip to see Andy:
“I find I’m so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at a start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”
The last scene completes the idea as we see Andy off in the distance working on an old boat and living his idea of paradise. Red, who believed fully in his friend, joins him in paradise.
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