IndexInformation about the bookThe meaning of the quote and how it fits into the bookThe meaning of the quote towards the charactersAndy DufrasneEllis Boyd “Red” ReddingBrooksSummaryConclusionThis is a literary essay on the short story Shawshank Redemption : A Story from Different Seasons, written by Stephen King in 1982. I will discuss the quote “Get busy living or get busy dying”. They repeat this quote several times in the book and film, which increases its importance to the story. This famous phrase determines the fate of every inmate in Shawshank Prison and whether they will live or die. It's a quote that can be confusing because you can interpret it in different ways. Therefore, it needs further analysis. In this essay I will describe all possible aspects of the story quote, but also some characters that I think speak to this quote the most. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay About the Book The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of a banker, named Andy Dufresne, who is sentenced to life in prison at Shawshank State Penitentiary in 1947 for the cold-blooded murder of his wife Linda and her tennis player lover Glenn Quentin. Despite overwhelming evidence placing him at the murder scene, Andy has insisted on his innocence, something Red and others also believe. Andy was innocent of his wife's murder. This is the underlying premise of the story: how an innocent man can stand above the society that condemned him and behave with dignity and grace, even under the great weight of a fake, when the system completely fails to extend that justice to him . Putting the money laundering work aside, if we assume that Andy didn't kill anyone, then it's the story of an innocent man who spent his 19 years of life in a corrupt and brutal system, trying to survive and do everything as well as he could, all the while offering hope of escape. After all, he wasn't guilty of the crime he was originally incarcerated for. The meaning of the quote and how it fits into the book The overall meaning of this quote is that in life you are constantly living and dying. You live when you do something positive and useful in your life and you die when you don't try to improve your life. Living requires hard work and willpower. It means you have to make the best of your life even when everything goes against you. Dying is when you give up. You don't make things work and you sink into self-pity. To live or die is the constant battle in one's life. That's why it describes life in prison perfectly: in Shawshank you either live or die. You try to survive or you just can't. This is the rule for all prisoners. Those who try to live may become respected among other inmates and may see the day of their release. Those who don't try will have an even more horrible time in prison. It's the choice you make, and it's the choice that will determine your fate in Shawshank. This line is provided by both Red and Andy Dufresne. This is for both of them, a phrase to keep them motivated to survive Shawshank. The meaning of the quote towards the charactersAndy DufrasneAndy, from whom it took nineteen years to escape, was busy living. He had spent all his free time digging tunnels through the walls of his cell with his rock hammer in hopes of one day freeing himself. It was practically impossible, yet he had done it. And he had also made a whole plan to get to Zihuatanejo, and made sure that Red could get there too. All this is something that requirescourage and willingness to proceed even when the odds are not in your favor. This also adds to the meaning of “get busy dying.” For him it meant that even if his job could bring him death, it was still worth fighting and working hard for. He knows that what he is doing could be his downfall, yet he does it. The posters he would hang in his cell would also give him the strength to move forward. He said those beautiful women gave him a sense of freedom. He felt like he could almost walk through them and be next to them. And the Raquel Welch poster gave him the feeling that he could be with her in Mexico. This is why the quote is so important to Andy: he kept digging that tunnel without knowing for sure if he would end up anywhere and he kept looking at the posters for support. Even when Bogs and his gang of rapists, The Sisters, attacked him and threatened his life, he continued to fight back. That courage to keep fighting kept him alive. The other time he was busy was when he worked for Norton. He made a brilliant plan to deceive the director. He could see himself escaping from that place and finding peace. He was the only one who dared to think about escape, and he was the only one who didn't fear Director Norton. Red said it would take twenty years to get out of Shawshank with that hammer, and Andy had done it. He had done something no one else would do. This shows well that he had chosen the way of committing himself to live instead of committing himself to die. Ellis Boyd "Red" ReddingRed, even though he tells Andy that Shawshank is the only one to blame, is the reason Andy was successful. She kept him good company and guided him through difficulties. He is a smuggler; he provided Andy with the posters, which were of great use to him. The fact that he helped Andy shows that, even after all those years in prison, he hasn't lost his humanity. The fact that he acts shows that he has taken the path of commitment to living. A turning point for him was when he had to tell the commission for the last time whether he was rehabilitated or not. At that moment he truly understood that it no longer mattered. He had chosen not to waste time trying to explain that he had indeed been rehabilitated. He had worked hard to die, for he thought he would remain in Shawshank until his death. In return, to his surprise, he was released. This, however, did not give him back the desire to work hard to live again. He realized that he had been institutionalized and had difficulty living at the pace of everyone else. He was again losing the will to continue living in society just like Brooks (in the film). And later, when she finally realized that Andy's plan to escape to Zihuatanejo was real, she regained that will to live. It opened his eyes to not end up like Brooks, but to look for Andy and go to Zihuatanejo. He pledged himself again to live and in reward for it; he saw his dear friend again. Brooks Even though Brooks is a character who wasn't in the book, I still find the quote speaks volumes about him. He was in prison for so long that he was completely institutionalized. He could know no other way of life than that of living within the walls of Shawshank. In the end he didn't even want to leave. Those many years spent in prison meant that he was busy dying. His suicide only proved something more than that statement. He was unable to adapt to a “free” life. Tragic enough, suicide was for him the only escape from suffering. But in the beginning, when he cared for a bird, he worked hard for a living. It had a purpose; he really cared for that bird, as if it were his son. He had a job at the library, which.