Analysis of Hope Springs Eternal - Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
Is there a link to this story and the Brer Rabbit stories by Joe Chandler Harris?
I don't know if Stephen King has ever experienced life in a prison or if the story was re-told to him. The narrator of the story is a character called Red. Towards the end of story Red refers to someone called "Jack" - that is - he has written the story as a series of letters to Jack. Perhaps this is where King got the inspiration from but it would be wonderful to know the source of his inspiration for this story.
This "novella" - King is uncomfortable with the term - is only 101 A5 pages; approximately 35,000 words but it paints a picture of a man and his life that is full and rich. It covers a time period from 1938 to 1977 and the story moves back and forth through time seamlessly, like a rich conversation with a good friend.
According to his "afterword" in this book he wrote this story after finishing "The Dead Zone". King mentions many ideas about the process of writing in the afterword but he doesn't discuss the origin of this story or what inspired him to write it. Perhaps the "magician" doesn't want to give away too many secrets.
The back cover blurb is:
"In the Shawshank Redemption a man convicted of a bloody murder lives in a prison brutally ruled by a sadistic warden and secretly run by a con who knows all the ropes and pulls all the strings. He has more brains than anyone else in this sinister slammer and a diabolically cunning plan of revenge that no-one can guess until it's far too late."
Although this blurb is fairly accurate in it's synopsis, it does leave out the fact that not only does Andy have brains, he also has hope. It's a story of hope; brains and survival set in an American prison of the worse kind.
The core thought stream of hope is stated clearly and strongly reinforced by Red's words in the last paragraph of the book.
"I hope Andy is down there.
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 had been in my dreams.
I hope."
A page before that Andy had written a letter to Red and he wrote
"Remember that hope is a good thing, Red, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."
The story starts with a brief introduction from Red about who he is and his position as the "guy who can get it for you" and quickly moves to the structure of prison life and society to the arrival of Andy Dufresne.
Andy is a quiet banker who's been convicted for killing his wife and her lover.
Andy is the main character of the story.
Red is the "structure" of the story - he sets the scenes and tells the tales. Overtime he becomes Andy confidante.
Shawshank also atmospherically describes the effect of prison life on the human psyche. Extract below
"Because you do get institutionalized. When you take away a man's freedom and teach him to live in a cell, he seems to lose his ability to think in dimensions. He's like that jackrabbit I mentioned, frozen in the oncoming lights of the truck that is bound to kill it."
When Andy finally executes his brilliantly planned and thoughtfully detailed escape - Red has the following comment in response to Warden Norton's fury:
"And by God, it almost seemed to me that somewhere I could hear Andy Dufresne laughing."
By keeping his sense of self, his sense of humanity and keeping hope alive in his soul Andy had outwitted the system that had made him a victim of circumstances - this jackrabbit had the last laugh
It's the tale-telling nature of the story and how it's central character has a folklore quality - which reminds me of the Brer Rabbit stories. Link here, just in case you haven't heard of Brer Rabbit.
There is a nursery book of Brer Rabbit where the stories are re-told by Stephanie Laslett. She writes:
"Every evening, as the sun set behind the persimmon trees and the shadows lengthened across the dusty yard, Uncle Remus would sit in his creaky old rocking chair on the cool veranda, light his pipe and tell his tales to anyone who would care to listen."
These stories would have been the possibility of "mental-escape" and "outwitting their masters" that would have helped Negro slaves to get through their days.
I see the connection between the Uncle Remus character/Brer Rabbit and Red/Shawshank Redemption on four levels.
- Red is the "narrator" of the Shawshank story. The character's story-telling style is similar to that of the Uncle Remus character - in that he is telling the story of Andy Dufresne to "anyone who would care to listen."
- The relationship between prison guards and prisoners is similar to that between slaves and their masters. For prisoners, like Andy, who are "victims of circumstances" - the relationship between slave and master becomes even closer. The need for "mental-escape" is the only way to stay sane.
- Brer Rabbit lives on his wits to outwit the stronger Brer Fox, Brer Bear, etc. Andy lives on his wits to outwit the "system" that keeps him a prisoner.
- Andy's journey through prison life and his hard trials with prisoners, guards and wardens show the measure of an intelligent, quiet, loner of a man who uses his wits to survive. Andy becomes the "stuff of legend" and a metaphor for hope. In the same way that Brer Rabbit was a metaphor for hope for slaves.
I don't know if King was a fan of Joe Chandler Harris but the following extract, from the same nursery book, does make me wonder if these stories may have inspired him as a child.
"Joe Chandler Harris (1848-1908) insisted that he did no more than simply retell the stories, but in fact he showed great storytelling skill in padding out what was often little more than a folk saying. He also retained the wonderfully rich dialect of the Southern Negro slaves, writing the words just as they would have been said."
King has this same skill - "writing words just as they would have been said" - it's a skill many a writer wishes to emulate.
© Maggie Baldry 2000-2005
