Original artwork, not a still
You could argue he’d done it to curry favor with the guards. Or, maybe make a few friends among us cons. Me, I think he did it just to feel normal again, if only for a short while.
— The Shawshank Redemption ‧ 1994
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Motive gets guessed at rather than known, with the speaker offering several possibilities before settling on the least strategic one. Currying favor or making friends both sound calculated, but wanting to feel normal for a moment sounds far more human and far sadder. That's the explanation the speaker finds most believable, even without proof.
Context reviewed
