Character Analysis
A Real Dirty Dozen
Shawshank mentions two other wardens who oversee the prison during Red's tenure: George Dunahy, "a prissy-looking downcast Yankee" (142) and Greg Stammas, "a short man with a tight, hard gut and the coldest brown eyes you ever saw" (142). Both of them are mean, nasty and corrupt. Neither is as corrupt as Norton, but they do their share of terrible things. Dunahy gets busted for running an illegal repair shop in the prison and using the prisoners as free labor, while Stammas oversees "maybe half a dozen moonlight burials in the stand of scrub forest that lies east of the prison." (142) They basically do everything Norton does, but in different ways. These characters show us that corruption and criminal behavior do not discriminate and extend over multiple people. At Shawshank, it doesn't matter who's in charge: There's no justice here.