was portrayed as glorious and represented the final result of keeping hope. Andy was assigned to the library, which built up to the largest events in his pursuit of hope. He was presented with the opportunity to help the guards with financial advising and filling out tax forms, which virtually removed Andy from the prison life and let him operate almost completely as if he were at his old job. His job allowed him gain the respect of the guards, which relieved some of the awfulness of prison life. Andy’s attempt to enlarge and develop the library was another distractions for him. His constant letter writing to request funds for expanding the library took some of Andy’s time and allowed him to focus his mind on things other than prison. After his years of requests were finally answered with books and eventually annual funds Andy and Red were presented with the full time job of maintaining the new, huge library. These new responsibilities were key in making their lives bearable and in lessening the difficulties of prison. The actual receiving of the books and funds also inspired the men and gave every prisoner hope of overcoming the gloom of prison. Dufreine encouraged his fellow inmates to sustain their hope in an attempt to help him to protect his own hope. Andy put himself into risky positions to benefit his group of friends. When Andy got the head guard to bring his friends beers while working on the roof he was faced with a threat of injury or even death. Andy felt it was well worth the risk to be able to see his fellow “co-workers” smile and relax. Red said that it was a wonderful thing “just to feel normal again, if only for a short while.” The guards laughed at the use of the term “co-workers” by Andy, but it is an excellent example of Andy’s subliminal thoughts of hope and his optimistic view of the awful circumstances he was in. Andy also suffered consequences ...
