Introduction: The most obvious difference between the book and the movie is the title and length of them both. The book is called Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. I think the reason they used Rita Hayworth in the title of the book is because they went into more depth as to who Rita Hayworth was. The poster meant a lot more in the book then it did in the movie. Red talked about how excited Andy was when he was asking for the poster. "It was about five months later that Andy asked if I could get him Rita Hayworth .Andy maneuvered to get next to me, and about halfway through the show he leaned a little closer and asked if I could get him Rita Hayworth. I"ll tell you the truth, it kind of tickled me. He was usually so cool, calm and collected, but that night he was jumpy as hell, almost embarrassed, as if he was asking me to get him a load of Trojans or on of those sheepskin-lined gadgets that are supposed to "enhance your pleasure," as the magazines put it. He seemed over charged, a man on the verge of blowing his radiator" (King, 37). If you've ever seen the movie you would expect the book to be a lot longer then it actually was. .
II. Theme: The theme in the book and the theme in the movie are pretty much the same thing. The over all theme is to never give up. There are many examples throughout the book and the movie. Red was rejected every time he tried for parole, but he kept trying and trying and trying, until finally, he was granted parole. Andy also showed the theme of never giving up. He was rejected by the warden when he asked him about being framed. He didn't give up, he eventually broke out of prison and did what he told Red he would do.
III. Character: At the start of the book they went through three or four wardens. In the movie there was one warden. His name was Norten. He was the only warden mentioned in the movie. This is always the case when someone makes a movie out of a book, they drop characters all the time when they are not needed.
