Your ass belongs to me.

[Mostafa Bayoumi]

The warden of The Shawshank prison said the text below to the new prisoners:

I believe in two things. Discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me.
Welcome to Shawshank.

 

[Hermione Golightly]

Please give us the context. This means who is talking to whom, in what circumstances and where.

 

[Mostafa Bayoumi]

Please give us the context. This means who is talking to whom, in what circumstances and where.

Is it clear now?

 

[grassy]

I watched that fragment. The warden seems to be suggesting that he will have absolute control over the prisoners' lives.

 

[Mostafa Bayoumi]

understood. thanks.

 

[Hermione Golightly]

Thank you for the context. I agree with Grassy. God will look after their spiritual well- being but the warden has control over their physical welfare.

 

[bennymix]

Thank you for the context. I agree with Grassy. God will look after their spiritual well- being but the warden has control over their physical welfare.

That's a genteel way of putting it. How about, Warden: "I'll do what I damn well please to you and your wretched body!"

 

[luigii]

Where does the phrase come from? Is this a known prison slang? A few years before the movie came out I'd heard it in a Megadeth song (also prison themed)

 

[Hermione Golightly]

If 'ass' is to be taken literally then it might refer to sexual practices, among other allusions. I'm no expert on prison slang but it's the sort of thing that goes back a long time.

 

[bennymix]

Besides that, it's synecdoche: M-W online:

synecdoche​

noun​

syn·ec·do·che sə-ˈnek-də-(ˌ)kē

: a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (such as fifty sail for fifty ships), the whole for a part (such as society for high society), the species for the genus (such as cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (such as a creature for a man), or the name of the material for the thing made (such as boards for stage)

The 'ass' is the person, the whole person. Instead of "I killed him."=> "I smoked his ass."
Example. "You are done for, defeated" = "Your ass is grass." "The Principal will punish you." => "The Principal will have your ass for this!" It is, after all, an important, even central, part of your physical being!

 

[Myridon]

"Your ass" is sometimes just a vulgar, intensified version of "you". Sit your ass back down! or Im gonna kill your ass!

 

[kentix]

Yes, it's not to be taken too literally in this kind of use. It's just a vulgar way of saying "you".

The warden is warning them that he has control over them and he can make them suffer if they do something to displease him.

 

[dojibear]

Slang "ass" is the physical person, not the person's mind. If you told a person to think something, you could not use "ass". But if you told a person to do something with their body ("Get your ass over here!"), you could use "ass".

I believe in two things. Discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me.

Your thoughts should be religious. I control your physical body.