Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

Andy goes to see Warden Norton. He recounts what Tommy Williams had said to him about Elwood Blatch, but the warden is not overly moved by the information. Instead, he takes an antagonistic approach and accuses Andy of falling for nonsense, saying that he believed Andy was smarter than that. He says to Andy: “Wellnow, you may be indulging in a little selective perception there” (61). Andy’s sense of urgency is eventually replaced by agitation; he simply cannot believe that the warden is as dismissive as he is. Exasperated, he accuses the warden of being “obtuse” which elicits an angry reprimand and an escort to solitary confinement, where he will spend 20 days.

After providing some history of solitary confinement in New England, Red returns to Andy’s predicament. While in solitary, Andy does not relinquish his hopes that e the warden will eventually relent and see that Andy had been falsely accused of double murder, and that he should at least be given a second trial. After leaving solitary, Andy pesters the warden for another interview and after many attempts, he finally secures one. This time, Andy immediately mentions the fact that he has been doing the warden’s dirty work while in prison, and promises that if released, he would not reveal to anyone the kinds of illegal activities the warden has been engaged in.

The warden does not respond as Andy wishes. Instead, he reveals that Tommy has been transferred to a minimum-security prison where he is able to have regular family visits. The warden implies that this is part of a deal that he struck up with Tommy, namely that the warden agrees to transfer Tommy, but if Tommy mentions Andy’s case to anyone, he will end up in an even worse prison than Shawshank. Andy is once again astounded at the warden’s decisions and responds by ending the agreement he has with the warden to do his financial maneuvering. For this, Andy receives 30 days in solitary confinement.

After being released from solitary, Andy’s demeanor begins to change. Red reflects on the nature of this change, which he says lasts four years until 1967. Andy’s general optimism is replaced with a more brooding outlook. Red recounts a conversation that he had with Andy in which Andy reveals that prior to coming to prison, he had a friend, Jim, move money for him. This was performed legally at the outset, but Jim also helped Andy forge a false identity complete with a driver’s license and birth certificate. The money had then been moved from Andy’s account to the account of this fake person, Peter Stevens. Jim had made some investments with the money and had accumulated $370,000.

Andy also reveals an important detail: The money had been placed in a safe deposit box in Peter Stevens’s name, the key for which lies buried under a piece of volcanic rock in the middle of a hayfield in Buxton, Maine. Andy reveals to Red his dreams of one day moving to a place in Mexico called Zihuatanejo, located “a hundred miles northwest of Acapulco on the Pacific Ocean” (72). Andy mentions that he wants to open a small resort there. He will need a righthand man, and asks Red to consider it. Red initially brushes aside the notion, explaining that he has been incarcerated for so long that he likely would never make it on the outside.

Finally, in the last part of this section, Red discusses the history of jailbreaks at Shawshank prison. He says that throughout his time at Shawshank, there has been an average of one escape attempt each month. Most of the fugitives are caught, although there are rare exceptions, which Red chronicles. All told, he speculates that about 10 inmates have successfully escaped the prison. He adds that in all likelihood, the majority of them probably returned to some other prison because they would be ill-equipped to handle life on the outside.