HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL in STEPHEN KING’S SHORT NOVEL RITA HAYWORTH and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Rachma Nindyasari Sudar Itafarida

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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SUBTITLE HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL IN STEPHEN KING’S SHORT NOVEL RITA HAYWORTH AND SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Rachma Nindyasari Sudar Itafarida

ABSTRACT

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is the first story in Stephen’s King short novel collection Different seasons, first published in 1982. The interesting thing is that this short novel also has a subtitle Hope Springs Eternal, which, from the author’s afterword, the subtitle in each short novel has an important point in the story itself. Furthermore, the analysis will be focused on the significance of the subtitle in the story. Detective fiction theory is used in analyzing this topic to answer the research questions. In addition, the writer also collects some data to support the analysis, which are primary data and secondary data. The primary data is the novel itself and the secondary data is obtained through library research and internet browsing. The purpose of this study is to analyze and reveal the significance of the subtitle Hope Springs Eternal in the story. Keywords: Detective Fiction; Significance; Subtitle 1. Introduction Hope is a wish, which make people believe that good thing will come someday. In Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption ~Hope Springs Eternal~, the readers will only understand the significance of hope in this story through the experience of the main character. It shows that the power of hope can help the main character to reach his dream. In other words, hope can be the important key in this novel. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption itself is a crime fiction novel written by Stephen King. It is a first story in a short novels collection entitled Different Seasons. 2. The Significance of the Main Title and the Subtitle In Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption~Hope Springs Eternal~, most of the story takes place in Shawshank Prison and tells about the prisoners and the police officers in charge of the prison. Rita Hayworth referred to in the story is a popular American actress in the 1940s and the only one who is not an artificial character in this short novel. She is mentioned by some characters in this novel and also a symbol of the main character’s hope. The character named Red is the narrator of the story. He describes some people who live in the prison and especially about Andy Dufresne, who is also the main character of this novel. From Red’s point of view, it will lead the readers to follow his thoughts. In the beginning, Red tells the readers about his important role in Shawshank prison for forty years. Even though he is a prisoner, Red can bring things from outside into the prison for other inmates, like cigarettes or beer and asks to be paid for his services. From Red’s explanation, the reader will also know about Andy Dufresne, a new prisoner in 1948. Different from other inmates, Andy asks Red to bring a small rock hammer, and then, when the inmates have a relaxing time to watch a Rita Hayworth’s movie in the prison’s auditorium, Andy suddenly asks Red to bring him a Rita Hayworth’s poster, and other things that uncommonly asked by other prisoners. Later on Andy and Red become good friends. Andy who is a former vice-president in the trust department of a large Portland Bank has a different attitude from other inmates in the prison. He is smart and able to make a change for a better life in Shawshank. Because of his effort, Andy can build a library in Shawshank prison and help other people to care more about education. Andy also gives a financial advice for prison guards that make him get a special treatment in Shawshank. Sometimes, Andy chats with Red and talks about his hope to escape from Shawshank. He imagines that someday he will step out through the Rita Hayworth’s poster, have a new life and become a new person. Andy also tells Red, that he wants Red to live with him. On the other hand, Red does not give any responses about it and think that Andy’s hope will never be achieved. However, after some years, the prison guards find that Andy’s cell is empty. He managed to escape from the cell by making a hole in the jail’s wall for twenty years. 56 The Significance of the Subtitle Hope Springs Eternal in Stephen King’s Short Novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

3. Purpose of the Study The writer is interested in analyzing Stephen King’s short novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption ~Hope Springs Eternal~ because this story not only tells about the crimes or violence, but also worthy moral lesson for the readers. This story is also interesting because it is seen from the narrator’s standpoint, which has a role as supporting character. He tells the readers about Andy, the main character of this story. Based on the background of the study written previously, the writer tries to formulate the problems in Stephen King’s short novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption into two research questions. The first one is about how the narrator solves the case, and the second one is the relation between the subtitle Hope Springs Eternal and the case in this story. Furthermore, the writer hopes to give useful information of the short novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption written by Stephen King to the readers. The writer also hopes this study can expand the reader's knowledge about literature, especially to provide new insights that may be missed or not recognized by the readers before. In understanding a novel, the writer aims to give the readers a new perspective on the importance of understanding analysis that focuses on the point of view and characterization as part of formal elements in literary work. Through the analysis of the dialogue and narration to reveal the case in this short novel, it allows the readers to get conclusion from different point of view or to give different opinions of a literary works. Moreover, from this study the writers hope to give a contribution to the world of literature and some useful information to the readers in a literary works, especially from Stephen King’s short novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. 4. Detective Fiction Theory To do analysis of this study, the writer will apply a detective fiction theory that can support to answer the research questions. In detective fiction novel, the author usually has a distinctive perspective that gives readers a new insight after reading the cases in the novel. In detective fiction, usually there is unique pattern that seems like more provocative than other genres. It means there are many assumptions before the cases are discovered in the end of the story (Rzepka 2). Larry N. Landrum in his book American Mystery and Detective Novels: A Reference Guide, says that in the crime and detective fiction novel, usually the presence of reliable characteristic cannot be seen immediately. It means that the narrator as the observer is not directly related to the case or the main character who is really the one who implicated to the problems. In other words, the truth can be revealed through the conversation or collecting some evidences found by the narrator (80). In Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Red’s standpoint as the narrator and also the observer in this story make a limitation where the readers do not know much about Andy except through Red thoughts. In detective fiction theory, close reading is the basic method to be used to help the writer in her analysis. The emphasis on close reading includes carefully reading of the texts to support readers to find out the meaning and interpret a brief passage of literary works. The readers should pay attention to the words in the text and explore the formal elements such as point of view, characterization, and plot of the text itself. Furthermore, there are four methods of close reading’s level: linguistic, semantic, structural, and conceptual (Tyson 141; Aune 121). However, the writer will only use the first and second level to analyze the text, and more focuses on characterization, point of view, and plot to answer the statement of problems. In linguistic level, the writer will pay attention to the words in the dialogues and narration as the first step to interpret and find the clues of this short novel. After passing this level, the writer goes to semantic level, which is a deeper stage of the study. In semantic level, the writer tries to focus on the Red’s deductive thinking to solve the case in short novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The writer need the data to support her analysis that is contains of the primary data and secondary data. The primary data is the text itself because to analyze the novel, the writer uses its novel as the main data. Henceforth, the secondary data is obtained through library research and internet browsing. After getting the data used as supporting facts in this study, the writer analyzes a data-chosen then reveals the significance of the subtitle in its story.

57 Allusion Volume 02 Number 02 (August 2013) | Rachma Nindyasari; Sudar Itafarida

In Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the dialogue of Red and Andy give many clues that are revealed little by little from the beginning until the end of the story. Through Red’s point of view, the reader can understand the situation in Shawshank. Instead of the main characters who directly involves to the case, the narrator is more like an observer. Red also calls the reader ‘you’, which make him like a storyteller. In the beginning, Red tells the readers about himself who becomes a prisoner in Shawshank for forty years because he kills his wife and his neighbors. Later, Red is showing interest in Andy, the new prisoner in Shawshank. From here, the entire story is about Red’s thought about everything, which is related to Andy. He tells the readers that Andy never complaint even though he is being harassed and beaten by some inmates. The first time Andy tries to approach Red, he ask Red to get him a small rock hammer because he is interested in stone carving. He also asks for Rita Hayworth’s big poster, and Red fulfills his request. In detective fiction theory, there is a character who collects information from other characters and gets hints, which can be used to help him to reveal the case (Rzepka 11). In this case, Red, the first-person narrator is the one who collects the information from other characters. ‘When I got out of here,’ Andy said finally, ‘I’m going where it’s warm all the time.’ He spoke with such calm assurance you would have thought he had only a month or so left to serve (42). From the dialogue of Red and Andy, it shows that Andy explain about his hope to escape from Shawshank. It is because Andy is being falsely accused of killing his wife and her boyfriend. Unfortunately, the prison guard is unwilling to see Andy released from Shawshank, because he still needs Andy to help him to take care of his taxes. Finally, he decides to kill the witness who could serve to prove that Andy is innocence. One day, Andy chats with Red and tells him that he makes a false identity under the name of Peter Stevens. Jim, his best friend helps Andy to create his illegal identity. Andy also has a dream to go to Zihuatanejo in Mexico and has a little hotel of his own. He even says that he just wait for the right time to use the new identity right after he leaves the Shawshank prison, and he hopes Red will go with him someday. Actually, from the Red’s point of view, he even thinks that Andy’s hope is too absurd to believe. Surprisingly, some years later Andy really disappears from Shawshank. He manages to escape from the cell by making a hole in the jail’s wall with the small rock hammer that he got from Red nearly twenty years ago. In addition, the big poster is used to cover the hole over the years. In this climax, all of deductions can be shown from Red’s memories, in other words, the readers finally understand and realize how Andy can escape from Shawshank. Red and Andy’s interactions also support to uncover the truth. Andy for some times gives him a hint that can be seen from his words. After that incident, Andy becomes a legend among the prisoners in Shawshank. Meanwhile, Red gets a post card on September 15, 1975. Frankly, the post card is totally blank without any writings on them or the name of the sender. One thing that he knows, the postcard is sent through the tiny town Of McNary, Texas. Before Andy escaped from jail, he told Red about his hopes to have a new identity and his own little hotel in Texas. Red suddenly realized that the sender of that postcard is Andy, and Mc Nary, Texas is the place where he lives after breaking the Shawshank’s wall a few years ago. In the last pages, it shows that Red writes this story for someone named Jack. So that’s my story, Jack. I never believed how long it would take to write it all down, or how many pages it would take (59). He begins to write the entire story since he gets a mysterious post card, believing it may have been sent by Andy. ‘You’ so called by Red is a minor character that never shows up in the short story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and only mentioned once in the end of the story. Red also tells Jack when he was paroled and gets another letter from someone named Peter Stevens. The entire story told in flashback, precisely until Red read a letter written by Andy who illegally changed his name to Peter Stevens. In the letter, Andy reminds Red about his words when they both are still in Shawshank many years ago. Remember that hope is a good thing, Red, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your Friend, Peter Steven. (63) Red’s story ends when he finished reading a letter from Peter Steven. In the last two paragraphs, this story uses a present tense. Red decided to look for him in the place that Andy mentioned before, that is

58 The Significance of the Subtitle Hope Springs Eternal in Stephen King’s Short Novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption called Zihuatanejo. Now, Red has hopes to reunite with his old friend. The last sentence in this short novel is about Red’s hope and decision to follow the same path with Andy. 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. (63) From Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption ~Hope Springs Eternal~, the result of the distinctive perspective given by the author to the readers can be seen through the characters’ hope. The hopes in this story provoked a reader’s reaction. Actually, Andy’s desire to have a new life is an illegal, dangerous, and not a good hope. However, the fact that Andy get a happy ending after illegally breaking the Shawshank’s wall and create a fake identity, shows that the author has a distinctive view of perception. It seems like Andy is doing something wrong for the right reason. Based on Andy’s perspective, it has been seen that no one can help him to get justice; therefore, he decides to escape from jail and make a new identity. In addition, Red, who is still on parole, decides to break the rules and follow his fellow to Texas. 5. Conclusion The meaning of the short novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption can be described on the last page. The significance of the subtitle ~Hope Springs Eternal~ explicitly has been shown through Andy’s character. Since being in Shawshank prison, he already has a hope and plan to achieve his dreams even though he needs a long time to make it happen. In the letter written by Peter, he also tells Red that a hope will never die. Hope is eternal. When the hope is still there, the dream will come true someday. 6. Works Cited Aune, David E., ed. The Blackwell companion to the New Testament. United Kingdom: Blackwell, 2010. King, Stephen. Different Seasons. New York: Signet, 1982. Landrum, Larry N. American Mystery and Detective Novels: A Reference Guide. United States: Greenwood Press, 1999. Rzepka, Charle J. Detective Fiction. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005. Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: a user-friendly guide. 2nd. New York: Routledge, 2006.