Content warning: This section of the guide discusses the Holocaust.

The theme running through all four stories is that of men’s relationships. In three of the stories, those friendships are essential to the characters’ well-being. In “Apt Pupil,” the relationship between the young man and the old corrupts both, but even there, the relationship shows how important men are to one another.

Primarily, the role of the masculine relationships in the stories is to create a standard of masculinity for the characters to live up (or down) to. In “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,” Red and Andy form a friendship of convenience that is never particularly emotionally intimate, but it initiates Red’s character development. Red has been helping Andy to acquire small items that he needs. After Andy’s escape, when Red is finally paroled, he has been so changed by his long years in prison that he is no longer able to function outside. Now Andy reaches back a hand to help Red, giving back far more than the little items that Red found for him. Andy offers Red the same kind of guidance for living outside that Red gave him on living in prison.

The boys in “The Body,” particularly Gordie and

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