.
Despite the unjust and exploitative corruption in the prison, and his being convicted to life in prison for a murder he did not commit, Andy nevertheless manages to maintain hope of freedom. Andy and the other prisoners are baffled why Ernie would be so in despair as to kill himself shortly after being paroled from prison. Having been in Shawshank for quite some time however, Ellis "Red" Redding understands that the brutality of the prison can easily crush a man's soul, making him useless in life outside of the prison. As Red explains, although in Shawshank prison, he is the man "who knows how to get things", on the outside, he would merely be an ex-convict with no purpose in society. Red claims that hope is dangerous, and can easily destroy one with its elusive appeal. Although Red initially described him as "the tall drink, with a silver spoon up his ass", the two quickly become friends, and Andy attempts to instill his hope into Red. Andy believes that there is a piece of one's soul that Shawshank can never take, explaining why he chooses to blatantly defy prison rules and play Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro over the intercom for the enrichment of all the inmates, and gives Red a harmonica, believing that music is needed most in the depressing atmosphere of the prison. Realizing that bad luck is at times inevitable, Andy passes off his imprisonment as "Bad luck, I guess Floats around. Gotta land on somebody - it was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the tornado" while keeping up hope for his eventual freedom, and promoting reform of the Shawshank prison. Andy keeps his specific hope to travel to Mexico on the Pacific Ocean and lead a relaxing life, and in order to ensure that Red will not despair and commit suicide as Ernie did, Andy asks Red to promise that he will look under a black volcanic rock in a field when released, in which Andy later hides instructions for Red visit him in Mexico.
