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Andy Dufresne

by ShanShan from Newmarket

Poster (www.baidu.com)
Poster (www.baidu.com)

Most people think that the hero must be someone who has remarkable achievements and great contributions in the society life, such as: martyrs, scientists, politicians, actors and artists. The hero does not need to put social efforts into reality. He/she can be a functional role in the novel or the movie, which is a role model with many characters worthy to learn from. The film is the reflection of the reality. A role still can be recognized as a hero for his activities and faiths. Andy Dufresne was an innocent man who was sent to the The Shawshank Prison as the court gave the wrong judgment in the movie. In a hard and dissimilar environment, he smiled at the difficulties and escaped from the prison to have a new life by his own struggle and intelligence eventually. He insisted on his faith all the time and helped friends get soul salvation in twenty years and his financial analysis ability was an important element assisting him to be the winner of the dilemma.

Friends (www.baidu.com)
Friends (www.baidu.com)

In 1947, a banker’s name was Andy. "Andy" Dufresne was convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, based on strong circumstantial evidence. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary in Maine. Being a successful manager of a bank, Andy used his skills to have the substantial period. During that time, he planned to escape from the prison in a sophisticated way. He entered into the prison in a short time. Once Andy and several other prisoners were working outside, he overheard the trouble of a prison official. Andy said that he would have a way to help him to circumvent the taxes legally. As a result, he won three bottles of beer as an award per person. Drinking beer, Andy took a break enjoying his former senses of freedom. Gradually, most of all people knew his professional proficient knowledge of financial systems. It helped him get out of prison and heavy physical labor, and harassment of other sick prisoners. The Governor, informed of Andy’s amazing mathematical ability through a series of probing, asked Andy to assist him to misappropriate the public funds. After the sufferance for many years, Andy withdrew most of Norton's (a prison official) money from several banks, and then sent evidence of Norton's corruption to a local newspaper at last. It was because of the experience of being a successful banker. He used his skills to have the substantial period and changed his own unfair fate.

Friends (www.baidu.com)
Friends (www.baidu.com)

Andy Dufresne was kind-hearted to help his friends get soul salvation and also made a relaxed environment which was filled with disengaged atmosphere in a hard phase. Tommy Williams was incarcerated on robbery charges. He was brought into Andy and Red's circle of friends, and Andy assisted him to get his high school education. Unfortunately, Tommy was killed by the Governor Norton because he knew Andy’s case. Most importantly, Andy was not only getting the soul salvation for himself, but also helping his soul mate, Red, pick up the confidence in life. Red was sent to the prison before four decades, he never gave up the hope to get out of the prison in the past. However, as time passed by, Red had some explanation for the institutionalization of "Prison is a strange place, at first you hate it, and then get used to it. You cannot live without it, this is called institutionalization." In fact, it was the reason why Red was afraid of the world outside of the prison, but Andy was different, even under the management system of the prison, he still wanted to be able to hold onto the faith and hope in the heart. No matter where he was, no matter how many years. He had the stamina to persist and tried to influence others. Furthermore, he loved art and music. He put one of the old wedding albums on the record disk, and ran the music through a radio device to the whole prison. In the melody, everyone seemed to have the relaxing time. ‘Friendship’ is an essential part of Andy’s life; he demonstrated the word by the ways that he enjoyed the process helping friends. Although he was locked in the cell, his spirit still looked like a normal person.

Poster (www.baidu.com)
Poster (www.baidu.com)

As my own hero, the most impressing point is that he insisted his own faith in a hard period and expected to start the new life in twenty years. In the dissimilar prison, he was often sexually assaulted, harassed by “three sisters”, but he never said a word. In order to expand the library, he could consistently write to the governor from once a week to twice a week. He never forgot to find an opportunity to escape from the prison. In 1949, when Andy tried to use a hammer to carve his name on the wall, a small piece of stone fell down and he accidentally found that the material of the wall can be used to dig channels. Finally, the rock tore through the poster, revealing a tunnel that Andy has dug with the rock hammer over the last two decades. There are all the ways to stand on his hope and faith. Although Andy was caged, he did not give up the hope for the freedom, and always insisted on the faith in his heart, fighting against the unfairness of the destiny. So, he became the winner of the dilemma.

 (www.baidu.com)
(www.baidu.com)

Andy Dufresne is a hero. He is recognized as a great man from his faith, his kind-heart and his intelligence. In the my point of view, there are many definitions of heroes. Most of them are brilliant and some, like Andy who loved the life and admired the freedom with powerful spirits though it is spoken for a personal angle. I am an ordinary person and don’t have the unique experience as Andy. But I still can learn many spirits from the role, some of them may help me overcome lots of trouble in my future. The model of a hero who can lead us to go ahead in life, just like Andy.

Page created on 11/3/2010 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 11/3/2010 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.