Examples Of Power In Shawshank Redemption

Deviation of Power

“Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just” (Blaise Pascal). Power is an outstanding topic in this well crafted novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption written by Stephen King. Andy
Dufresene, a gentleman who carries himself well, was charged of a crime he did not commit. In
Shawshank state penitentiary he faces challenges with the authority of the prison, Warden
Samuel Norton. Warden Norton is more less a hypocritical man who has scams in operation even though he follows the bible and prefers criminals behind bars. Andy’s rights were shadowed by
Warden Norton, but eventually he became rewarded. Andy’s lack of power limits his ability to
He was powerless when he was convicted of a double murder by the jury, he was innocent. Andy has no power to defend himself while being convicted of only circumstantial evidence. Andy did not have an alibi only his word stating he was intoxicated and sleeping it off until the next day to think of it in an adult fashion (23). As a result of being upset over the fight with his wife and going over a possible divorce, murdering his wife and her lover seems very out of line from what he was trying to accomplish. Secondly, Andy was physically over powered when he was raped by the sisters multiple times. The sisters worked best in their
“hunting grounds” (32), behind the industrial washers were the guards were afraid to go since maneuvering around would be almost impossible. The sisters held a “Philips screwdriver to his temple while they gave him the business” (33). This shows that Andy was physically over powered by the rapists and he also did not have any sort of protection in prison. After that, Andy became even more powerless when solitary confinement became his home and was unable