5. Notes on Resilience

I've chosen to focus on Red and Andy with regard to resilience, in part because the other characters in the story are foils to keep the story unfolding. The story is very much about Red and Andy.

The American Psychological Association defines resilience in an article entitled Building Your Resilience as " adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress...As much as resilience involves "bouncing back" from these difficult experiences, it can also involve profound personal growth. ((Building your resilience 2012)

Red narrates the entire book. He entered prison in 1938 and stayed for almost forty years. Red showed resilience in a number of ways, although they were more subtle due to the passive role that he takes in the narrative, as witness rather than main player.

Red was convicted of murder, which he accepts responsibility for. He entered prison and by the time of writing, he has survived and even to some extent thrived in his prison environment. He has become the "guy who can get it for you here at Shawshank for damn near forty years. (King 2) He indicates that he doesn't "do it just for the money...I got a reputation and I want to keep it." (King 3,4) To me, having a sense of dignity in such circumstances is indicative of resilience.

Red could be perceived to have a laissez-faire attitude, which I understand as resilience. When Andy told him not to worry because a rock hammer could not hurt anyone, he responds "I never worry...In a place like this, there's no percentage in it." (King 20)

In general, humans worry as a way to work out their problems but Red's complete acceptance of his situation is the foundation of his resilience.

Despite not worrying, Red acknowledges that he is institutionalized, which could be perceived as either a lack of resilience or resilience to a difficult circumstance vis-a-vis adaptation and acceptance. He describes institutionalization after Andy escapes in terms of why he might have taken so long to escape:

When you take away a man's freedom and teach him to live in a cell, he seems to lose his ability to think in dimensions. He's like that jackrabbit I mentioned, frozen in the oncoming lights of the truck that is bound to kill it. (King 82)

He discusses his own sense of institutionalization with reference to how he feels after Andy tells him that he'd like him to join him in Mexico some day:

The idea of seeing the Pacific sounded good but I was afraid that actually being there would scare me to death- the bigness of it. (King 83)

Red's decision to join Andy is the most significant indication of his resilience. Despite everything that has happened to him in the past forty years, he somehow finds the courage to start his own journey to Mexico:

I hope Andy is down there.

I hope I can make it across the border.

I hope to see my friend and shake his hand.

I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.

I hope. (King 111)

Red's resilience is profoundly reflected in his ability to hope after such a devastating experience as well as the courage to attempt his new adventure.

ANDY

When I told you that I chose this book because Andy Dufresne was the definition of resilience, I really meant it.

Andy is wrongly convicted, and in prison through no fault of his own. He's gone from a successful banker with a good standard of living and respect in his community, to a guilty conviction for a double murder, which he did not commit. He is thrown into Shawshank prison for life as his punishment.

Most people would give up all hope in such circumstances. Instead, Red describes Andy as "a man who adapted fast." (King 20) He is in a horrible place where there is no hope of leaving. Then, the sisters targeted him:

Because of his small size and fair good looks (and maybe also because of that very quality of self-possession I had admired), the sisters were after Andy from the day he walked in. If this was some kind of fairy story, I'd tell you that Andy fought the good fight until they left him alone. I wish I could say that, but I can't. Prison is no fairy-tale world. (King 22)

Andy showed resilience when "He decided to fight" (King 23) the sisters in their quest to abuse him. He chose not to give in to the gang rapes quietly, asserting his self-defense each time they tried. In some cases, he was more successful than others. When Bogs Diamond and two others attempted to force him to have oral sex by holding a knife to his head, his response was sufficient to change their attack from one of rape to 'only' assault:

I'm going to bite whatever you stick into my mouth. You can put that razor into my brain, I guess, but you should know that a sudden serious brain injury causes the victim to simultaneously urinate, defecate...and bite down...in fact, I understand that the bite-reflex is sometimes so strong that the victim's jaws have to be pried open with a crowbar or a jack handle. (King 24)

While the attacks did not stop right away, "Bogs didn't put anything in Andy's mouth that night...and so far as I know, no one else ever did either." (King 24) His battle against the Sisters was ongoing:

He always fought them, that's what I remember. He knew, I guess that if you let them have at you even once without fighting, it got that much easier to let them have their way without fighting the next time... (King 26)

Fighting the sisters took ongoing motivation and endurance, both of which are signs of resilience. He kept-on keeping-on despite the trauma inflicted on him by the situation.

To some extent, Andy's rock hounding was a microcosm for his resilience. When Andy gave Red the pieces of polished quartz, Red's response was first to appreciate their beauty and then he:

...felt something else too. A sense of awe for the man's brute persistence. But I never knew just how persistent Andy Dufresne could be until much later. (King 31)

Persistence in the face of adversity meant that when Andy was given the opportunity to work at tarring the roof, he was able to recognize an opportunity when Mr. Hadley was complaining about the tax implications of his inheritance from his brother. He broached the subject of solving Mr. Hadley's problem, which put him at personal risk, but the gamble was successful and he gained respect and protection from giving financial advice to the guards:

"Suddenly, it was Andy who had the upper hand. It was Hadley who had the gun on his hip and the billy in his hand...but all at once in that golden sunshine, it didn't matter... (King 39)

The protection was a bit of a two-edged sword. The same protection that the guards/warden provided from fellow prisoners by allowing Andy his library job and his single cell (most of the time) also meant that when Tommy wanted to help Andy by testifying about Elwood Blatch, the warden wouldn't cooperate. The warden feared

the loss of control over Andy and the stories he could tell, if he were no longer incarcerated. In some ways, his own actions created circumstances in which he was too valuable to let go.

Andy's resilience shows strongly after this incident. Although he is depressed and turns inward for around four years, he continues his escape project and continues protecting himself in whatever ways he can regardless of the circumstances.

I'd like to say that I have some great insight into Stephen King's thoughts around resilience. Unfortunately, I don't. After reading his biography, it strikes me that at the point in his life he was writing this, he probably did not feel terribly resilient. He was constantly addled by drugs and alcohol and had been since at least 1970. (Kimberlin) The intervention his family staged did not take place for six years after the book was published. I think Stephen King is a brilliant writer. I consider his work before sobriety to have been a miracle.

There are many themes in this story including the power of hope, the difficulties (and the positives of isolation,) exploitation and institutionalization. It's hard to comment on the themes as they relate to resilience without sounding pat. Given how important it is to 'keep going' in the face of adversity, each of the struggles experienced by the prisoners is a barrier to the achievement of their goals. The massive oppression that is experienced on so many levels by the prisoners, makes the possibility of hope remaining alive tiny. Somehow, despite all the grim darkness, Andy and Red managed to keep their hopes alive. Instead of rotting in prison and giving up, as could be totally expected for people in their circumstances, they manage to stay productive, motivated and useful. This in turn motivated them further. Both characters could have languished in prison until they died, or given up on the outside, but instead, step by step they move toward hope. In the end, their resilience allows them to move on with their lives.

Escaping from prison or breaking parole isn't something I would normally applaud as resilience but the context of the book makes it possible. Red is rehabilitated (regardless of what he might think) and Andy is innocent. Andy has lost 27 years to his conviction for a murder he did not commit. He has been abused and used. His resilience is otherworldly.

While writing this reading journal, I was suddenly reminded of a time, early in the internet (1996) when I was involved in an email loop that was a support group. One day, I posted that I was stressed, I had money issues, and a little baby, a husband who worked crazy hours. I said I was at the end of my rope. I hit 'send' and almost immediately, a response came back "Tie a knot." In a sense, resilience is the continuation of knot tying, and trying to climb back up.

I have more to say on the topic of resilience from the perspective of a psychological lens.

(Giberovitch) (Davis-Laack) (Resilience training for maritime using e-learning modules) (JordanX How to tie knots - stopper knot) (Knotted climbing rope: Natural manila)