I just finished reading this for the second time (the first time being the proverbial 'yonks' ago).
This is mainly directed at Whidden, 'cause he's a King-head. Or a Dark Tower-head. He's something King obsessed related, anyways.
I think Red, the narrator of our story, is full of crap. Everything the dude says is a lie. LIE, I say! There is no Andy Dufresne, no Rita Hayworth poster, no weird Indian guy who says "nice guy, doesn't like people to touch his stuff", and so on. Or if Andy was real, he didn't escape from Shawshank. No sir, he's still there stewing.
I think Red's full of it. If I could find this fictitious character in real life, I'd track him down and call his bluff right to his face, I would. I'd say, "Red, you're full of it" - that's what I'd say.
Nah, he's ignoring me because he doesn't want me to bash he's precious King. Come on, you yeller-bellied cod-liver eatin' pile of horse raddish! Maybe he just didn't find the thread yet... in which case... sorry 'bout that horse raddish crack.
Eh, anyway, I'm not 100% that he's lying, but it definitely makes Red's story look bad. When Andy escapes, Red says that they didn't work out how until the evening, when the Warden pulls the Linda Ronstadt poster off the wall... well, all I wanna know is... how did Andy replace the poster in the first place? Eh? EH?
"I'm for it so we can put Nuclear power plants up there, and then beam the power back to earth on a laser beam." ~ Whidden