Denisovich and Shawshank

Ivan Denisovich and the Shawshank Redemption

Prison has been and continues to be used as a setting in literature because, by the very nature of a prison, it calls to mind certain issues for the audience to deal with. There is the fact that a prison houses inmates who are guilty of crimes against their will, as well as the social institutions that are unique to prison life. There is also the idea of injustice, since the prisoners are there because of the justice system which sometimes wrongfully convicts innocent people. But prisoners must find a way to maintain their dignity and a sense of self, or suffer the consequences of being destroyed as a human being. While there are numerous issues to discuss when dealing with a prison atmosphere, some of these issues are dealt with in two stories about imprisonment: One Day in the Life...
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