In fact, the jobbery of the prison wardens and their guards allows the prisoners to engage in a game of manipulation by which they manage to tentatively disrupt the prison system to their advantage. For instance, Andy Dufresne, the protagonist of the story, manages to adopt what Foucault calls a “strategy of struggle”, in “The Subject and Power” (794), which enables him to overcome the physical and mental constraints exercised by the prison institution. By offering financial advice and handling the Warden and the guards’ taxation forms and all their money dealings, Andy manages to enjoy certain privileges that distinguish him from other prisoners. Instead of doing laundry work, he is transferred to the prison library, in addition to being spared
…show more content…
King’s depiction of Andy’s frustration is very intense in its expression of the oppressive and devious exercise of power. The warden’s callousness infuriates Andy, who vehemently shouts out in desperation: “Okay. But all extracurricular activities stop now. The investment counseling, the scams, the free tax advice… Get H & R to tell you how to declare your extortionate income” (King 1983, 87). The Warden, in turn, threatens to make his life very hard and very difficult: “You’ll do the hardest time it’s possible to do. You’ll lose that bunk down in Cellblock 5, for starters, and you’ll lose those rocks on the windowsill, and you’ll lose any protection the guards have given you against the sodomites. You’ll lose everything” (King 1983, 71). Andy is punished by isolation for two months, living on bread and water only. The Warden’s retaliatory act asserts Foucault’s claim in “The Subject and Power” that “the mechanisms of subjection cannot be studied outside their relation to the mechanisms of exploitation and domination” (782). His punishment is a reminder by the institution’s authority that he is under its thumb and that total subservience to the hierarchical order is non-negotiable. Andy resumes his ‘extracurricular’ services after a period of solitary confinement, but Red perceives that Norton crushing his hopes to catch the real killer has left a permanent scar beneath the cool façade: “If Norton had wanted to break Andy as badly as he had said, he would have had to look below the surface to see the change” (King 1983,
King’s depiction of Andy’s frustration is very intense in its expression of the oppressive and devious exercise of power. The warden’s callousness infuriates Andy, who vehemently shouts out in desperation: “Okay. But all extracurricular activities stop now. The investment counseling, the scams, the free tax advice… Get H & R to tell you how to declare your extortionate income” (King 1983, 87). The Warden, in turn, threatens to make his life very hard and very difficult: “You’ll do the hardest time it’s possible to do. You’ll lose that bunk down in Cellblock 5, for starters, and you’ll lose those rocks on the windowsill, and you’ll lose any protection the guards have given you against the sodomites. You’ll lose everything” (King 1983, 71). Andy is punished by isolation for two months, living on bread and water only. The Warden’s retaliatory act asserts Foucault’s claim in “The Subject and Power” that “the mechanisms of subjection cannot be studied outside their relation to the mechanisms of exploitation and domination” (782). His punishment is a reminder by the institution’s authority that he is under its thumb and that total subservience to the hierarchical order is non-negotiable. Andy resumes his ‘extracurricular’ services after a period of solitary confinement, but Red perceives that Norton crushing his hopes to catch the real killer has left a permanent scar beneath the cool façade: “If Norton had wanted to break Andy as badly as he had said, he would have had to look below the surface to see the change” (King 1983,