Heywood Getting Mad

I just re-watched that scene with your question in mind.

Heywood was happy and triumphant as he came to the table, he had won the cigarrettes by correctly predicting Fatass would be the first to cry out at night. Then he and the others quickly found out Fatass was dead. His joy quickly turned to guilt plus anger at the prison guards who killed him and Andy was convenient to snap at when he asked if anyone knew what the dead man's name was. As in, "His name isn't so important, the fact he is dead is important."

I think if Fatass had not died and Andy had asked the same question about a more pleasant topic it would have been accepted OK. I believe it was to show that Heywood, inspite of his rough manner, really did care about the others.

..*.. TxMike ..*..

Interesting, thanks.

At the time, I thought the scene was to demonstrate the inhumanity of prison life. The people don't care when others die. But as we see later in the movie, they do care for each other; there was a powerful camaraderie among the inmates.

I think Heywood got mad because he felt guilty. Andy's remark sort of aggravated that guilt, highlighting the tragedy of the man's death. We do see Heywood whispering, "shut up" when the guards confront Fatass. So Heyman didn't want the dude to die.