Phobias Explored in The Shawshank Redemption’s Brooke

In Shawshank’s Redemption, there is an old prisoner named Brooke who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in his youth and was admitted to Shawshank Prison. Brooke, who attended college, was a rare intellectual in the prison and was sent to manage the library.

Compared with other prisoners who work hard, his work is enviable, leisurely and comfortable. Brooke is honest, working hard, obeying the rules, and never messing up. As he served longer and longer, his status in prison became higher and higher, and he gradually became a ‘model prisoner’ at the veteran level, but never bullied the ‘new person’ and was therefore highly respected.

Because of his good performance, at the age of 68, he was finally approved for parole and regained his freedom.

The government also arranged a job for Brooke to be a packer in a supermarket, and everything looked so good. However, when he stepped out of the gate of Shawshank Prison, he did not rush to the joy of a new life, but he was very worried.

He has been sitting in prison for 50 years and has already adapted to life in the high walls. He has fame and status in prison and has no worries. After he was released from prison, it all ceased to exist, and he felt that he suddenly became a waste. In the face of a new world of freedom, he is at a loss. Every day, he is timid and frightened. He spends his days and often wakes up in a nightmare.

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He soon collapsed and even thought about killing another person and returning to prison. In the end, he hanged himself to commit suicide.

Brooke’s Phobia Symptoms

Brooke is a librarian in prison for 50 years, and he is respected by everyone. In other words, Brooke spends his whole life in prison. Every day he pushes the car and asks if the prisoner in each room needs a book. He has long been accustomed to live there, repeating the same thing every day. When he knows that he can be released on parole, there is not much excitement and happiness for him. From that day, he is full of anxiety and fear. He is an old, lonely man, and he knows that he would rather spend his life in prison than live outside. So, he takes a knife and tries to kill a prisoner in order to stay in the prison again. A lot of persons do not know why Brooks has to do that, but Andy. Andy is a bank manager before he gets into the prison, he knows that Brooks is afraid of outside, so he tries to persuade Brooks to move on and he deserves the freedom. Finally, Brooks accepts everything that had been happened. Before he leaves to prison, he sent out his own pigeons that had been kept in prison for eight years. When he walks out of the prison gate, he does not have much joy, but his heart is full of fear. He holds the parole file in one hand, the car ticket in one hand, and cry as he walks. It is one of the symptoms of phobia for Brooke. He really fears all of the things out of the prison.

Although the government arranges a job for him, he cannot adjust the new life as well. Especially, when he wants to go to the restroom, he forgets that he isn’t in the prison and he used to report to his manager. He feels lonely all the time, so he always goes to park to feed pigeons like in the prison after work. As we know, after being in prison for 50 years, Brooke was released on parole. He was stunned, panicked, and feared. He had adapted to this restricted and no more freedom environment. There are no more thoughts about the outside world since he is in prison, so, the new life likes a disaster for him. In fact, social phobias is another symptom for Brooke.

Phobia is a fear of certain things or situations. In this case, Brooke is getting a social phobia outside. He always fears of social interaction, such as meeting others, talking with others, and dating. According to the article“Everything you need to know about phobias” by Christian Nordqvist, it states that in the United States, there are over 18 million people have phobias. In other words, a phobia is a very common problem in our society. In society, people with high psychological stress are most likely to suffer from a phobia. For instance, an officer has a lot of work to complete but the time is limited, if he does not complete on time, the most likely to deduction of wages by his boss. Therefore, the social problem of phobia requires more attention from our input.

Possible Genetic and Environmental Factors Affecting Phobias

In the movie, Brooke finally left the prison but chose to commit suicide because he could not adapt to life outside. When the news of his suicide reaches the prison, everyone feels incredible and think that Brooke is crazy. Only the black prisoner Rhett said calmly: ‘These walls are kind of funny like that. First, you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. ”In other words, Brooke choose to suicide because he is not socialized in the society. In fact, Brooke is an old man, and he has not enough ability to accept the new life, mental factors and personality traits are also the causes of phobia for Brooke. Additionally, people suffering from phobia are not only affected by the external environment, but also by genetic factors. According to the article “Genes, Fears, Phobias, and Phobic Disorders” by Garey, Gregory, it states “ although the results of two small twin series are consistent with some genetic influence on clinically significant phobias, it is still not clear what might be genetically transmitted in these disorders. There is a strong possibility that phobic disorders may be genetically heterogeneous.” In other words, Phobia is not only related to psychosocial factors, but also to genetic factors. Phobia is the reason for treating a certain thing without fear. Once faced with this kind of environment, it will have a very extreme fear, so that you want to try to escape from this environment, but the more you fear, the less you have to escape this vicious circle.

Treatment for Phobias

According to the book “The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook” by Edmund Bourne Ph.D., he describes that anxiety disorders and phobia are a fairly common psychological problem. In today’s society, everyone is inevitably living under pressure. In the United States, anxiety is a top-notch mental health problem that affects the beauty of women, while the impact on American men is second only to alcoholism and drug abuse. In other words, Phobia is not only an ordinary psychosocial problem but also seriously threatens the physical and mental health of human beings. “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” By Marcus Aurelius. Therefore, in the face of such serious social problems, we need to take more effective measures to stop the spread of the problem. First, it is important to face up to your negative emotions. Phobias can make you negatively think about yourself when you are socializing. You might think “I look like a fool.” To overcome this symptom, you have to first learn to recognize these ideas when they come out. Understand the roots of social fear to better overcome it. We need to be strong and confident, and constantly talk ourselves that we do that! Second, analyze the actual situation of fear. After looking at and recognizing the fear, learn to analyze it. Try to rewrite the negative emotions in your mind in a positive and realistic way. For instance, when we did a wrong thing, we should not complain ourselves first. Instead, we can think that we are just a common person that we cannot promise to do everything is correct. However, a scientist also will take a mistake. Third, stop unrealistic predictions. When dealing with social fears, people often make mistakes and unrealistic predictions about social situations. This is not helpful. You cannot predict, it will only depict the worst scenes, which is inconsistent with reality and creates unnecessary anxiety. Four, overcoming phobias need to practices. It is impossible to overcome social fear overnight, which requires perseverance and hard work. You have to learn new behaviors, new ways of thinking, new social skills, and it takes a lot of work. However, gradually you will master new skills and begin to overcome or control your fear.