The Shawshank Redemption was a very well written piece of work by Stephen King. It was different than any other typical Stephen King book which would deal with horror and suspense. Instead a story was told of an innocent man held in prison, named Andy Dufresne. The plot was narrated by a fellow inmate and friend named Red. By reading the story you became easily attached to both main characters and felt sorrow for each of them at various times. The story let the outside world in on what a prison environment was really like in the time period in which the story took place.
Although I saw the movie many times previous to reading the book, I felt that the book gave just as much clearness on the situation as the movie did. The book had many more twists and turns and gave a more thorough detailed plot. There were many differences between the book and the movie. Some of these differences were: the mixing of the characters Sherwood and Brooks in the movie, killing Tommy Williams in the movie, but not the book, having warden Sam Norton the warden the whole time (in the movie), making Red black in the movie instead of a red haired Irish white man and there was no mention of a cell-mate named Normaden in the movie. I liked the book a lot and to my surprise I had trouble not reading on. While reading the book you tend to think about a similar position, in which an innocent man can possibly be imprisoned or even executed. The novella questions modern law and the justice system and the overall fairness of life. .
It was easy to sympathize for the main character, Andy and it was just as well easy to question his innocence or guilt. In the movie you could think he was more guilty than innocent until the end, which was slightly different from the book. From the book, I also learned how being institutionalized can change a man and make him depend on orders to carry out his/her life. The story also asks the question, "Can a person be rehabilitated?".
