Madhu Balasubramanian 

College Writing R1A 

Ms. Baptiste 

February 3, 2019 

The Past is the Past 

Mistakes are inevitable. We’re all human; it’s what we do. The way we choose to react to 

those mistakes however, that differentiates us from one another. In Tamara Perkins’ 2018 

documentary, ​Life After Life ​she highlights this notion through the story of Harrison and his 

journey back into society after being incarcerated for 21 years​.​ By documenting this narrative, 

Perkins demonstrates Harrison’s potential to change his life following his incarceration. Perkins 

also explains how Harrison’s mindset changes over the course of the film, resulting in his 

success. After 21 years, Harrison gets out on parole and starts his reintegration back into society 

with a generally positive attitude. Even though he was unsure and scared for the future, Harrison 

used his growth mindset and was willing to work hard to change his ways for a better future. 

This mindset that Harrison is embodying, also known as the growth mindset, was 

researched by Carol S. Dweck, a research psychologist who believes that the mindsets of 

individuals have a very strong impact on they way people view success in their life. Dweck 

states that there are two types of mindsets: “Fixed” and “Growth”. A “Fixed” mindset assumes 

that a person is born with basic capabilities and their growth is limited based on this. As we 

know, failures in life are generally inevitable and people with fixed mindset view these as true 

setbacks and assume that nothing can be done to move forward. In contrast, someone with a 
“Growth” mindset believes that it is possible to overcome these failures and achieve greater 

results in life through a positive outlook by working hard as well as accepting help. Those with a 

“Growth” mindset view failure as an opportunity to better themselves. Harrison demonstrates a 

“Growth” mentality in his desire to better himself and become a productive member of society 

after facing the consequences of his actions.  

While  it  may  seem  counterintuitive,  it  is  actually  very  difficult  for  many  to  re-adjust  to 

being  back at home after becoming accustomed to life in prison. This was very much the case for 

Harrison,  after  21  years  confined  to  a  prison  cell.  After  being  granted  parole,  ,  he  feels  very 

anxious  and  nervous  about  the  future,  and  notes,  “If  I  am  going  to  a  new  prison,  I know how to 

adjust  to  that.  Um,  right  now,  I  don’t  know  how  to  adjust  to  what’s  out  there.  This  is  scary  as 

hell”  (Perkins,  2018).  Kitchen  workers,  bathroom  porters,  and  laundry  services all characterized 

his  predictable  prison  lifestyle,  where Harrison felt that “everything around you just sort of takes 

care  of  itself  and  then  having  to  come  out  here  where  it’s  just  like  pow!”  (Perkins).  This  was 

essentially  the  first  time  he  had  to  fend  for  himself  as  an  adult in his life, since he was just a kid 

before  he  was  incarcerated.  This  abrupt  new  change  makes  him  fearful  of  even  mundane  daily 

tasks.  Even crossing the street or leaving a voicemail for someone “felt like an anxiety attack” to 

him  (Perkins,  2018).  Those  small  tasks  that  we  usually  take  for  granted  were  very  difficult  for 

Harrison  to learn and adjust to. So, even living 3 months on his own as free man feels like a huge 

success to him, despite how afraid he was about what was yet to come. 

Even  though  Harrison  was  nervous  and  full  of  anxiety  about  how  he  would  live  his  life 

following  his  release  from  prison,  he  approached  this  change  with  an  optimistic  point  of  view. 

He  was  willing  to  learn  anything  and  everything  it  would  take  to  lead  a  successful  life.  Most 
people  might  feel  embarrassed  or  even  ashamed  of  not  being  able  to  do  these  simple  tasks,  but 

Harrison  doesn’t  let  his  obstacles  get  to  him.  Despite  not  having  the  experience  of  living  a 

normal  life,  Harrison  doesn’t  let  these  barriers  stop  him  from  moving  on.  Each  time  he  would 

come  across  an  obstacle  or  task  he  didn’t  know  how  to  do,  he  would  simply  laugh  it  off  and 

graciously  ask  for  help.  When  he  didn’t  know  how  to  fold  the  ironing  board  he  laughs and says 

to  his  roommate,  “Darvin,  do  you  know  how  to  close  this  thing  before I break it?” showing that 

he  wasn’t  upset  or  frustrated  at  the  fact  that  he  couldn't adjust to life easily. (Perkins, 2018). His 

laugh  was  giving  the  outside  world  a  sneak  peek  as  to  what  was  going  on  his  mind:  that  he  felt 

hopeful  and  positive  about  his future despite his past struggles. While he knew that it would take 

work  and  effort,  he  would  be  able  to lead a successful life over time. If it weren’t for his attitude 

&  mindset  as  well  as his willingness to ask for help, he wouldn’t have been able to get past these 

seemingly difficult barriers. 

It  takes  a  lot  of  courage  to  come  back  into  society  from  being  incarcerated  for  so  long 

with  a  positive  perspective  on  life.  Harrison  is  someone who chose to look at their struggles as a 

way  for  improvement.  Not  only  was  he  determined  to  pursue  the  tasks  he  wasn’t  familiar  with, 

he  also  set  a  self-goal  for  the  future;  he  was  determined  to  go  to  college.  Wanting  to  work  on 

improving  himself,  Harrison  enrolled  in  San  Francisco  State  University.  Perkins  introduces  the 

topic  of  the  University  to  show  how  Harrison  had  larger  goals than simply getting out of prison. 

He wanted to make a future for himself and did everything in his power so that that goal could be 

accomplished.  This  is  a  perfect  example  of  someone  with  a  growth  mindset  because  he  wasn’t 

willing  to  sit  idly  by  and  wait  for  things  to  happen  to  him.  He  says,  “In  the  future,  I  foresee 

myself  being  a  teacher  somewhere  in  Samoa”  (Perkins,  2018).  Harrison  took  it  upon  himself  to 
get  an  education  to  hopefully  reach  his  goal  in  the  future.  However,  similar  to  the  rest  of  us, 

Harrison  does  go  through  moments that were filled with self doubt. It may seem like once he has 

that  positive  outlook  that  it  is  a  smooth  road  after  that.  But,  in  reality,  it  takes  much  more work 

and  courage  than  the  initial  perspective.  Harrison  sometimes  even  found himself longing for the 

consistency/  simplicity of prison life when he felt overwhelmed by schoolwork. He described the 

feeling,  saying  “What can I do? It was just one of those I think, um, just crashing moments, like, 

when  you  –  you  wish  you  can  go  into  one  of  cells  and  just  sit  there”  (Perkins,  2018).  It  was  in 

these  moments  that  he  was  tempted  to  give  up  all  of  his  hard  work.  Someone  with  a  fixed 

mindset  may  have  given  into  these  temptations,  allowing  themselves  to  believe  that  they’re 

simply  not  capable,  or  that  they  were  destined  to  be  a  criminal.  However,  Harrison’s  growth 

mindset  made  it  possible  for  him  to  persevere  and  eventually  become  a  successful  graduate  of 

San  Francisco  State  University..  Despite  initially  being  intimidated  by  the outside world, we are 

able  to  see  how  Harrison  never  gave  in  to  his  self-doubt  and  used  his  growth  mindset to bypass 

any setbacks. 

The growth mindset helped Harrison overcome more than just his self-doubt. It allowed 

him to truly work how he approached difficult tasks and gave him the ability to go about it in a 

positive way. For example, since Harrison had workers at the prison to take care of him, he never 

had to fend for himself and, therefore, was clueless when it was time to live on his own. He 

relied on his roommate to teach him to how to complete basic, everyday tasks. But, if it weren’t 

for his open-minded, optimistic mentality, he would have never been accepting of any kind of 

help and would, therefore, only get more frustrated. Determined to learn and grow is a direct 

consequence of the growth mindset. The growth mindset, as shown in Harrison’s actions, is 
about not letting any setbacks keep you from changing yourself for the better. It’s the realization 

that you don’t have to remain at the same level of capability for your entire life. It is knowing 

that if you have this growth mindset and an aptitude to learn and grow, then anything is possible. 

Harrison could have reverted to thinking with a fixed mindset and given up when things got 

tough, but he pushed through and it was his determination that allowed him to succeed in his life. 

Seeing Harrison face adversity and overcome his struggles stands as inspiration for those 

of us that may be stuck in a fixed mindset.. It shows us that we, too, can transition to a growth 

mindset if we are willing to not let our obstacles and failures hinder us from improving and 

developing ourselves. Harrison’s journey reminds us that every day we have a decision to make. 

We can either allow a fixed mindset to tell us that we just aren’t good enough, and that our past 

mistakes will always define us, or we can embrace the wisdom we gain from these mistakes, and 

use a growth mindset to actively better ourselves every day. We see through Perkins’ 

documentary how Harrison went from being incarcerated for murder to being a college graduate 

and a contributing member of society. People who watch this documentary may be inspired to try 

to strive for a growth mindset and achieve their goals after observing how Harrison did following 

his incarceration.  

References 

​ ew York: Random House.

Dweck, C. S. (2016). ​Mindset: The new psychology of success. N

Perkins, T. (Director). (2018). ​Life After Life ​[Motion Picture]. United States.

All quoted dialogues referencing ​Life After Life a​ re from unofficial transcript provided by the
director, Tamara Perkins