changing self
...m. In sally morgan’s “my place” the family is made stronger when the father dies because they all become closer and they all feel a sense of looking out for one another. Changing self is a process clearly identified in Frank Darabont’s “The Shawshank Redemption.” It presents the story of a man in the outside world-has to learn to get by in the brutal, cutthroat confines of prison life. But Andy's seemingly acceptance of his unjust imprisonment hides a fierce perserverance for freedom. It presents a man trapped in prison for reasons unjust to him and how he deals being on the inside with his struggle to free himself emotionally from his past and to physically set himself free from the prison. With themes of freedom, determination and the power of hope it depicts the concept of changing self. The director, Frank Darabont, paints the prison in drab grays and shadows, so that when key events do occur, they seem to have a life of their own. “On the outside I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to become a crook.” The situation the hero Andy finds himself in is non modifiable, and similarly the heroine Sally from ‘My place’ is in the same situation. As she is the eldest child and the mediator between her parents she is forced into a situation to grow up and take responsibility. The comment the director makes on the concept changing self is that it is a growth inside of you to learn and accept what life has to offer. “These walls are funny. First you hate them, then you get used to them, Enough time goes by you learn to depend on them” The changes Andy goes through are not physical but they are somewhat forced as he was made to go to prison and has no control of the situations around him, much like Sally. Stuck in between the family feuds and being too young to understand she feels helpless. In the film, the concept of changing self are the differences between the 2 world’s, the outside world and the inside (prison.) And it is how it affects each one and how they deal with the process. During adolescence change is the process in which your body and mind undergo until the early stages of adulthood. Although the transition may seem to finish it is really a never-ending battle of life experiences. Every new day brings about change. What we seem to lose sight of is that all change whether it be good or bad is beneficial to personal growth. As seen in “The Shawshank Redemption”, banker gets life for murder and discovers that prison can provide personal growth despite pitiful degradation. Sent for reasons unjust to him, and accused of killing his wife, Andy realises that escape emotionally and from prison gives him the closure from his past that he needs. Change, identifiable in Sally Morgan’s “My Place” to be superficial “ I was a year older, but I was still the same person. The changes were only superficial” I think often we fall into this trap saying to ourselves this time next year things will be different, we lose a sense of reality and start living in our own world where anything is possible. We can’t escape that fact that a situation cannot be tampered with by us and that we have little control over changing those around us. I think this is what Sally was looking for, trying to pry information out of her grandmother on her family history she assumed that it would be beneficial for her if she knew. However she only made the situation worse because her grandmother was being forced into a situation she wasn’t comfortable with. She only ended up hurting her. Sometimes we think that we are in complete control of things and that we have the power to change the situations we are in and the people around us. As told in Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge” w...