George Lancaster
11/16/14
Film as Literature
Mr. Hill
Eulogy of Brooks Hatlen
To the rest of the world Brooks may be some con, but to all
of us here in Shawshank we know Brooks as a kind man, a caring man, an
important man. Inside of these walls we are all a big family, we look out for
each other, but once Brooks was on the outside he was alone.
Even though Brooks may have had an altercation with Heywood
around the stressful time of his parole, he always showed unwavering kindness
and friendship to all of us. He even apologized from the outside about that
knife incident. Any of us would have done the same thing if we had been here as
long as he has too. Brooks Hatlen was a good man for a con. If only the world
that he went into knew what a kind man he was too. But the outside as no use
for a con this day in age, and Brooks knew that all too well.
We saw the caring side of Brooks when he took in Jake after
he found him outside of the prison’s license plate shop he showed how even a
hardened con can care for an innocent bird. You could never find the two of
them apart, they were as inseparable as a pair of Siamese twins. While we may
not have fully understood the relationship between Brooks and Jake we all knew
how special it was. Their bond was more than that of a pet and their owner, it
was so much more than that, and as much as Brooks cares for Jake, Jake took
care of Brooks. Those two needed each other to survive in this world.
Inside the walls of Shawshank Brooks was an important man. We
all knew our good friend Brooks as the prison librarian, he never failed to
bring his cart around every night to make sure all of us could have something
to read. No one else could do the job that Brooks had done which is why I, Andy
Dufresne, believe that all of us here in Shawshank should memorialize our dear
friend Brooks by building a library in his honor. It would make him smile to
see us have the opportunity to read and better educate ourselves while we are
stuck in here.
When it came time for Brooks to leave our family when his
parole went through, we were all sad to see our dear friend go. I guess it
seems that some people are not meant to leave the walls of Shawshank. Brooks
was one of those people. Throughout his time here at Shawshank prison he has
seen six wardens come and go and over time it seems like these familiar walls
felt like home to him. The world has changed so much since he arrived it seemed
to have just swallowed him whole. Well even though the outside world may forget
the memory of Brooks Hatlen, his memory will live on in all of our hearts.
