I recently read a novella called ‘Shawshank Redemption’ written by Stephen King. The story was very successful. Millions of copies were sold, and the readers were greatly impressed by the story. It was made into a movie, and the movie became a masterpiece. However, the story is, in fact, only a story about a prison breaker who went into prison, lived for years, and then escaped, just like the other typical prison breakers. Then, how could the story be so successful? How could it impress the numerous readers and audiences? The reason is that the novel gave us important messages about institutionalization and hope in a beautiful way.
The first message of the story is about ‘institutionalization’. Even in a harsh condition like prison, as time passes by, the members adjust to the condition and feel comfortable to it. Then, they fear changes. Even though the changes guarantee freedom, justice, peace and all the decent virtues, the sweet changes terrifies the members who already adapted themselves to the cruel condition. The members are ‘institutionalized’. In the ‘Shawshank Redemption’, Brooks Hatlen, who had been the head librarian in the prison and had been respected from other prisoners, was paroled. However, he could not adjust to the radical changes. Since he was trained to be docile and suppressed for decades, freedom of the outside world was frustrating to him. Eventually, he did not last a year after the parole. As Red said in the story, they began to ‘feel the need to take a piss’ only when they were permitted to. As the members of the Shawshank were institutionalized, they lost all the desire for the fundamental rights. They were frustrated to get their own freedom back!
However, Andy Dufresene, the prison breaker, was not entirely institutionalized because he had hope. Hope was the virtue that could overcome the despair from institutionalization. Unlike other discouraged prisoners, Andy had hope. When he gazed at the pictures of the beautiful actresses, he had a hope of going through the picture and standing by the actresses. Even though he was sentenced to life imprisonment, he still dreamed of living in Zihuatanejo. Surrounded by the four walls, he hoped to have a little hotel and take the guests out charter fishing. His strong hopes let him consistently dig a hole for sixteen years and crawl 500 yards in the sewerage pipe, and eventually escape from the prison. His soul full of hope was too small to be confined in a small cell of prison. Moreover, his hope inspired the other prisoners to have hope, too. After parole, Red could avoid the institutionalized fear by reminding the value of hope which he learned from Andy. As the last five sentences of the story said, he hoped, he hoped, he hoped, he hoped, and he hoped. I have no doubt that Andy and Red met each other and made their dreams come true.
Institutionalization is not only in prison. Even though ones would feel that their present conditions are unjust and repressing, they would soon adapt themselves to the conditions. For example, a freshman would have first come to a school and would have become angry of the authoritarian and dogmatic attitudes of the seniors toward the freshmen. However, as time passes by, the student learns to submit and cringe to the arbitrary behaviors of the seniors. If a tolerant senior tells the student to treat him or her as a friend, the student feels uncomfortable. The student rejects any change from the authoritarian relationships between the freshmen and the seniors. Then, the student becomes a senior, and treats the freshmen in the same way. The student is institutionalized! As one would confront more irrationality and contradiction in the society, he or she would become institutionalized to all those irrationalities and become a docile member of the absurd society. Nobody is free from institutionalization.
What one needs to get rid of the influences of institutionalization is hope. As the novella ‘Shawshank Redemption’ says, hope is the only virtue that can overcome institutionalization. One should have hope for a rational and fair relationship between the freshmen and the seniors. One should have hope for a society without contradictions. Without hope, the irrationalities would never disappear, because the institutional ones fear changes. As Andy did, one should have hope. As Andy’s jailbreak suggests to the readers, a soul full of strong hope is the greatest of all: it can make anything come true. One should never lose hope.
Excellent intro, and an entertaining comparison to KMLA in terms of "institutionalized." The cycle repeats itself? This is written almost like an essay, but keep in mind you can be more informal in a reading journal and don't have to think too too much before writing. This is very good though, and I like to see quality writing. Some picture would be nice.
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