Shawshank Redemption Theme Analysis

Shawshank Redemption has challenged our thinking through the use of universal themes which explore the ideas of living. The author, Stephen King has written this text in such a way that shows expressions of friendship, justice and corruption, dystopia, freedom and the power of hope. These themes continue to be relevant and inspire emotional responses which have classified this text as classic. Therefore, this has allowed the audience to make connections and influence the history by describing the nature of this film as a classic text.

The first theme that is explored in this film is friendship. There is an important friendship between Andy and Red which continues to create a strong friendly relationship between the prisoners. The quote “I never felt really close to Andy until 1960 or so, and I believe I was the only one who ever did really close to him” expresses friendship and ideas of having a good friend among others. It describes how long it takes to find a friend whom you can share your everyday thoughts and feeling with. This theme expresses the text as classic by making a positive connection which is still relevant among
The idea of this expression is to show the corrupt people in Shawshank prison which used the prisoners as slave labours and strove them for justice. This is expressed in the quote “They send you here for life and life is exactly what they take.” It conveys a message to the audience that the prisoners did not achieve justice which they were striving for since a long time. Prison life consisted of very harsh rules and routines. “Life gone in an blink of an eye” shows that prison life is a world where no one is independent, nobody wants to live in and the whole life is ruined. This theme has various ups and downs which consider the prison life to be a world where justice is not achieved easily. This has described this text as classic through the use of this