Both Brooks and Red entered the confines of the Shawshank Correctional Facility as youths, but left its walls as old men. They both had seen many dozens of prisoners come and go as well as the tenures of three wardens. They spent decades behind a small walled enclosure and got used to it.

Prison life, although similar in many aspects to the outside world, is its own society. Prison is a microcosm of outside society. There are fewer people and the roles they play are more defined. Life for the prisoners is much more controlled.

In the beginning, the prisoners loathe prison life. They come to feel restricted in everything they do. Simple activities that they once took for granted, such as using the restroom, are taken from them - granted only when told to do so. As time progresses, they come to accept prison's daily routine. The prisoners grow accustomed to being told what to do, then doing it. When enough time passes, prison life is

Although Brooks and Red had a difference of friends, the real difference was hope. Red had said, "When they put you [in prison] for life, that's what they take, the important part anyways." The final stage of being institutionalized is the removal of all hope. Both Brooks and Red had gone through its final stage, but Red's friendship with Andy gave Red a glimmer of hope. Brooks and Red, although slightly different, were essentially the same in every way. It's just that hope had set Red free.

Only one difference allows Red to continue living while Brooks died; the difference is who their friend was. The two had many friends, many of them mutual friends, but each man spent his time with only one. That friend for Brooks was Jake, a crow. Brooks had raised Jake from the time he was a hatchling until the day he released him on the same day he was freed from prison. For Red, his companion was Andy Dufresne - an ex-banker who shaped rocks.

Brooks and Red are both institutionalized men. They lived out most of their lives in prison and were out of touch with the outside. "I had once seen an automobile as a kid, but they're everywhere now" (Brooks). The two men had missed the earth spinning beneath their feet and ended up as foreigners in their own native land. For Brooks and Red, the only life they had known was life within the walls of Shawshank. For over four decades, the two men were told when they could wake up, when they could eat, when they could use the bathroom, and when they

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1014
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)