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Title of movie: The Shawshank Redemption

Question of the week:

7. What is a theme of the book? How do you know?

Answer:

The theme of this movie is hope.

“Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive man insane. It’s got no use on the inside. You better get used to that idea.” This is what Red said after Andy told him about a place in his heart that no one can reach to except for him. This quote shows how hope, is only a dream in Red and other prisoners head. No one has hope anymore except for Andy.

Andy believes that music is the hope that can break the jail walls and reach into everyone’s heart. At the day when he put on the Italian opera music without the officer’s knowing, everyone found hope. It felt as if there weren’t any jail walls surrounding them. It felt like they were standing on a broad field with no boundaries. Later on, he gave Red a small instrument. “Would you play it right now?” That’s the first thing Andy said after he gave Red the instrument. He wanted Red to feel hope inside him. “No.” But that’s what Red replied. Later that night, when the officers shut down all the lights,Red took out the instrument and played it for a sec. just that one note made him smile. He felt what music could bring him, hope.

Andy and Red also made a library for the prisoners, in memory of their old friend Brooks. Brooks died after he got released out of prison. He didn’t feel the reason why he would still live on earth without what he liked. He had been living in jail for over half a century. Now that he’s arrested, he committed suicide. Because to him, the outside has no meaning, no hope. The library gave the prisoners the chance of education, to get their high school diploma and even more, the chance to dive into books and seek their own outside world.

“Prison time is slow time, so you do what you can to keep it going.” The prisoners inside so what they like to do, they collect stamps, posters… Andy built a library. It’s what they do and don’t give up that keep them alive in jail. It’s the reason why they don’t commit suicide. It’s their hope of not giving up and keep vying.

Andy was innocent. He wasn’t the murderer that killed his wife. It was someone else, but when he found it out 10 years later and told the officer, the officer didn’t care at all. In stead he put Andy in the salutary for one month. It was his only chance to get out and to prove his innocence but the officer killed it. Later that night, the officer wanted to have a talk with Tommy, the one who told Andy the real murderer. But instead of having a talk, he killed Tommy. He didn’t want Andy to get out of jail and tell everyone how much money the officer took, the money that wasn’t suppose to be his. “I’m done. Everything stops.” From this quote we can tell that Andy lost hope. The officer tries to ruin everything that he had, he has and he was suppose to have. But this time, it’s Red who tries to make Andy feel better. “You think you’ll ever get out of here?”‘ “Yea. One day when I got a long white beard, and two or three marbles rolling around my head, they’ll let me out.” This was a part of a conversation between Andy and Red. Red believes that one day, he’ll get out of there. Andy told Red that if he gets out, he’ll go to Zihuatanejo. That’s the final dream he has. He wants to be there for the rest of his life. He wants Red to go with him, too.

At last, Andy reached his dreams and went to where he wanted to go. His hope became true. Also, Red came out of jail and went to Zihuatanejo to stay with Andy. In the letter that he found on his way, this is what Andy said, “Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” Hope is what everyone has in their heart, weather you’ve found it or not. I think that this is a wonderful movie. It teaches us to not give up on our hopes and dreams. Even a prisoner can come out of jail if he has hope.