Elwood Blatch, a violent burglar, is a large man, “mostly bald,” with “green eyes set way down deep in the sockets.” He shared a prison cell with Tommy Williams in Rhode Island, four years before Tommy is incarcerated in Maine’s Shawshank prison. After Tommy learns why Andy Dufresne is in Shawshank, he reveals to Andy that Blatch once bragged to him about murdering Glenn Quentin and Andy’s wife, Linda Collins Dufresne during a burglary. Andy remembers a man matching Tommy’s description of Elwood Blatch working at the Falmouth Hills Country Club, which he and Linda attended and where Glenn Quentin was a golf instructor. When he tells Tommy’s story to Warden Samuel Norton, Norton—who wants to keep Andy in prison and laundering his money—claims not to believe it. Norton may even arrange Blatch’s early parole so that any lawyer Andy might hire won’t be able to find Blatch. That no one ever holds Blatch accountable for Linda and Glenn’s murders—while Andy is wrongfully incarcerated for decades—demonstrates the failure of the U.S. criminal justice system to dispense justice.
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Elwood Blatch Character Timeline in Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
The timeline below shows where the character Elwood Blatch appears in Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
...what Tommy told him: on a previous prison sentence, Tommy had a cellmate named Elwood Blatch, an extremely jumpy burglar, a “big tall guy,” “bald,” with “green eyes set way down...
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Red knows why Andy wants to see Norton immediately: Blatch may still be incarcerated and thus easy to locate, or he may have been released...
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...to please him. When Andy says he never told Tommy about the country-club employee matching Blatch’s description, Norton accuses Andy of “selective perception” and claims that even if they found Blatch,...
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...to visit their families. Andy, suspecting Norton transferred Tommy to pay for his silence about Blatch, asks why Norton would do that. Norton claims he’s helped Andy out: there was an...
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