Imprisoned in an illusion
Rewarding virtue and punishing vice. This shibboleth has predominated over the world since the thing called culture established. Whether vice is superficial or inner, it has been harshly oppressed throughout the history. Individually, I have thought that since the essence of vice cannot be appreciated fully, vice should not be regarded more than once after it is punished.
Nevertheless, reading this "chronicle" of Andy Dufresne in Shawshank, I realized that vice cannot be objective and is a mercurial subject of judgment. I committed a crime of making a hasty judgment without taking a perspective of the person concerned. In other words, I had not been a prisoner before reading this novel. One of the most attractive aspects of Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption was that it "imprisoned" me in a prison named an illusion. I mistook as if I were Andy in a solitary cell while reading. Being passionate and desirable upon freedom, which I have had in my life without any restriction, I was able to reflect upon my previous conception of vice and virtue.
Sympathized. Feeling Andy's persistence while he was making a hole through the wall and laundering money for Norton without any grumbling, I felt as if I were Andy. Rather than focusing on the outcome of his tenacity: eternal freedom, I concentrated on everyday life of him in the Shawshank. Persistence is concomitant with hardships. Stephen King might have decided to hire Bogs Diamond to highlight his endeavor and patience. Why did Andy have to put up with such ordeals? I wanted to understand the root of his encumbrances. At the very first part of the novel, the judge doesn't put much effort in differentiating superficial vice and real vice. Norton, preoccupied by avarice, doesn't permit Andy to make the truth clearly. Being another Andy in the novel, I changed my notion about crime and punishment; more weight should be added to crime, not to punishment.
What I thought as a minor drawback of this novel was that it took a perspective of observer. Rather than expressing Andy's innermost of mind, the author took Red as a detached narrator of the story. Though I was able to fully take Andy's emotional stages with descriptions of Red, the story would be better if it took Andy himself as a narrator. This thought got strengthened while I was about to appreciate Andy's persistence and hope.
Didn't I comment on this? I thought I did. I know I read it. Anyways, good to see some writing on here, finally. Anyways, I agree on some points, but disagree that Andy would be a better narrator. It was an interesting and innovative choice of King's to make the story Red's. It became a lot faster and more efficient and mystical.
답글삭제Good work. Hope to see more posts about other stories we cover in class.