BOOK CONTENT WARNING: Violence, death, blood, bodies, substance abuse.
Different Seasons by Stephen King is a compilation of short stories with themes of rebirth, death, and “fall from innocence”, each corresponding to a season of the year.
Although every story is very different than the next, Stephen King’s masterful characterization is a constant throughout. Whether we’re following a 13-year-old Nazi aficionado or an innocent man 30 years deep in a life sentence, Stephen King brings you into the stories as though they have pasts and futures, and you’re just now dropping in for the climax in the characters’ lives. His expert use of era-specific knowledge and background breathes life into his stories in a way that mirrors life itself with its intricacies, misconceptions, and contradictions.
Since this book encompasses 4 separate stories, it’s difficult to draw up a concise summary and review of all short stories at once. Therefore, this will just be a review of the first novella in Different Seasons, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.”
As a disclaimer, this story can absolutely stand on its own. You don’t need to read through every story to get the full scope of the novella. However, I’d highly encourage you to do so because each story carries similar themes through different perspectives. Likewise, the pace and style from story to story are very fluid and Stephen King webs small details that intertwine the stories together (even if ever so subtly) which adds to the overall quality of this story.
Ok, let’s get into it!
“Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” follows Andy Dufresne, a banker serving a life sentence for killing his wife and her lover. But Andy is a level-headed guy. He’s non-violent, kind of timid, and has an air about him unlike that of the other prisoners. Would he really kill his wife after uncovering her affair?
If you were present at Andy’s trial, you would’ve undoubtedly blamed him for the murders – there’s a lot of evidence against him. For instance, Andy bought a gun after confronting his wife about the affair. Then, on the night of the murders, he got drunk and idled in the motel parking lot where his wife and her lover were killed. That same night, he disposed of his gun in a nearby river, and it was never retrieved. And, to add insult to injury, Andy got his wife a life insurance policy not too long before her death. It all sounds pretty incriminating if you ask me.
However, our narrator, Red “the guy who can get it for you,” unveils why he thinks Andy is innocent and how this story unfolds.
Simply put, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” explores prison life over a 30+ year span and what it’s like to be exploited, oppressed, unfairly tried, and ultimately conditioned to “thrive” in a prison environment. Andy’s story also shares themes of hopefulness, discipline, and patience in the face of a corrupt system.
To spoil my own review, I must say I loved this story. The themes, characters, and suspense throughout were well-crafted and they all joined together to tell the weirdly relatable story of a man desperately trying to keep his sense of self.
One of the main themes throughout this novella is the lack of inmate reformation in the prison system. For instance, when I say “thrive” in a prison environment, it’s not so much in a positive connotation. As we see in Shawshank State Prison, “thriving” means you don’t get raped because you have a reputation and you don’t get killed because you concede to slave labor. It means you have a position of importance in the overall prison hierarchy (whether because you’re strong and can stand up for yourself, or because you have outside connections, like Red) that makes you an asset to other prisoners or staff. However, this is by no means a positive thing.
As we see throughout the novella, prisoners aren’t taught valuable skills or reformed in any substantial way to help them adjust to life outside of prison. Therefore, when prisoners serve long sentences, they cannot cope with the “real” world and most of them end up committing petty crimes just to be back “home” in the one place where they feel useful and where they have a community — a place where they are accepted. Unfortunately, this is the reality for many prisoners.
Imagine finally getting out of prison after serving your time only to come out of it more estranged and unfit for the “real” world than you were before it. This is what happens in real life when inmates are expected to integrate back into society without the skills or resources available to do so. Stephen King did a wonderful job illustrating how prison belittles inmates through shame and stagnation instead of uplifting them through therapy and education.
P.S.: I’ve never been to prison before, but I know that keeping your soul alive after so much torture and emotional turmoil would be out of the picture for most of us. We’d most likely become like the rest, hardened by the system and confined by the idea that prison life is all that’s left of us.
Yet, Andy portrays a side of prison life that is only privy to those with strong senses of self, which whittles down as the prison chains bog deeper and deeper into the inmates’ psyche.
This leads us to another prominent theme in this novella – hope.
What makes Andy different from the rest of the prisoners is that his spirit remains unbroken throughout the novel. Even after years and years of serving a sentence he didn’t deserve, he walks as if he’s still free; as if he’s just going through prison knowing he’ll come out of it once again, even when all signs point otherwise.
In other words, Andy remains hopeful.
For instance, he doesn’t lose his sense of self while in prison. As a geology hobbyist, he collects and polishes rocks in his cell room; and as a banker, he spends his time making tax returns for prison personnel. These are signs of a man who hasn’t let go of himself in exchange for the “forever-a-prisoner” mentality, even when his case heads in that direction. Not to mention that Andy expands the prison library and helps inmates get their GEDs even after being raped, beaten up, and cooped up in solitary confinement for over a month. Now, that’s a sign of a truly free man, one that believes in his own independence and power even if it’s the last thing he has left.
Through Andy’s story, Stephen King explores the dichotomy between what I’ll call a “prisoner” and a “person in prison”. On one hand, a “prisoner” characterizes himself by the perceived finality of their sentence. A person becomes a “prisoner” when they relinquish the passions and pursuits that characterized them outside of prison. In short, they give up on themselves. Yet, a “person in prison” characterizes himself first and foremost by their inability to be changed by prison. Like Andy, these individuals refuse to lose their sense of independence, even when it’s in contradiction with their environment, and this is a lesson we can all learn from outside of prison cells.
Like Andy, we are subject to our most limiting beliefs.
Overall, Stephen King’s portrayal of prison life was enlightening and helped me to understand the world a little better. The light in this book unveiled some of the darkest realities of prison life and it left me feeling angry towards the system and hopeful for the souls it hasn’t been able to break. It reminds me that, although people go to prison for doing bad things, that doesn’t necessarily mean these people are bad, which is another great lesson Stephen King weaves into this novella.
Ultimately, inmates deserve the chance to overcome themselves and take personal responsibility for their lives. Right now, prisons immerse their subjects deeper into a culture of violence, disrespect, and fear where people can’t really be helped. “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” was a glaring example of how this can strain the human spirit and drain it of the last thing it should ever lose – hope.
I’d highly recommend this story and its companion movie. The characters are well grounded and their arcs felt satisfying all the way through, whether or not you believe, or even sympathize with, the characters. It warmed my heart and gave me a glimpse into a life I’ll hopefully never have to experience. Stephen King’s detailed exploration of the prison’s colloquial language, politics, culture, and structure grounded you in a place that might as well have been real. Every word felt intentional and the character-driven story made me feel connected to characters I’ve never had the pleasure to meet.
If you found this insightful or want to chat about books, I would love to hear from you. And if you’ve read this, I would love to know what you thought about it!
Book Mentioned: King, Stephen. “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.” Different Seasons, Signet, New York, NY, 1983, pp. 15–106.