Erdrich writes, “He was built like a brick out house anyway. He had a nose big and sharp as a hatchet” (128). One may conclude that a physical description was given for Henry and not Lyman because he was ... ... middle of paper ... ...e died because of the war. Even though Lyman and Henry’s relationship ends up ending, the red convertible will always be with Henry and will always be a memory for Lyman. While Lyman struggles with losing his brother to the war, the red convertible brought them back together, even though it was really the end.
In the story Lyman tries to rescues his brother while also trying to build their relationship to what it used to be. In doing this he shows that he is willing to do anything for his brother, he even tore up the car for Henry. Lyman goes through a life changing experience when Henry dies, because one moment he was there and the next he was gone. The two brothers lived on an Indian Reservation in the nineteen hundreds where they were sheltered. Sheltered from the real world, and especially the Vietnam War.
On this trip they form a deep bond as brothers. The red convertible is a symbol of their relationship, it reflects the state of the brother’s relationship as it goes up and down. Their bond loosens when Henry is drafted into the War and returns a different person. Louise uses her story to help today’s readers understand the effects of war on families in the 1970’s. The character Lyman is the younger brother of Henry.
It is said that when a man returns from war he is forever changed. In the short story, “The Red Convertible,” Louise Erdrich demonstrates these transformations through the use of symbolism. Erdrich employs the convertible to characterize the emotional afflictions that war creates for the soldier and his family around him by discussing the pre-deployment relationship between two brothers Henry and Lyman, Lyman's perception of Henry upon Henry's return, and Henry’s assumed view on life in the end of the story. Throughout "The Red Convertible" Erdrich embraces the car as a symbol for the powerful relationship between two brothers, Henry and Lyman. The brothers combine their money to acquire a red convertible which they drove everywhere together; the car symbolized that relationship.
Throughout the story, Erdrich uses the red convertible as a symbol of Henry and Lyman's relationship, and more generally, the war-torn relationships of soldiers. In the beginning of the story, Henry and Lyman buy, restore, and travel around the continent in the convertible together. This action represents a normal relationship before the effects of war. When Henry goes off to war, the relationship changes and Lyman demonstrates their separation by taking the car apart. Later, when Henry returns from war a scarred and changed man, he loses his usual interest in the convertible, as well as in Lyman.
“The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich, is a story of two Native American brothers whom share a deep bond and very close relationship before circumstances start falling apart; throughout the story, the reader learns about Henry’s psychological state. As the narrator, Lyman, informs the reader, they owned a car for the first time “We owned it together until his boots filled with water on a windy night and he bought out my share.” (358) is when a magnificent brotherly can be seen connection. But the time passed by, and their link was breaking apart, because a war situation. Although Henry and Lyman are the main characters, Lyman invests most of the time describing how he feels of Henry’s life before and after he went to war and how the relationship was deteriorating. Henry and Lyman are two brothers which developed a nicely bond whey got the red convertible.
The story begins in with an introduction of the narrator's life. Almost simultaneously the reader is introduced to older brother Henry Junior and the shiny red Oldsmobile convertible they bought on the spur of the moment together. The rising action of the story begins when the two take off one summer on a road trip that ends them in Alaska. When they arrived home, it was conveniently just in time for Henry to be drafted for the army. Just months later in early 1970 Henry was fighting in the Vietnam War and Lyman was had the red convertible in his possession.
It is said that when a man returns from war he is forever changed. In the short story, “The Red Convertible,” Louise Erdrich demonstrates these transformations through the use of symbolism. Erdrich employs the convertible to characterize the emotional afflictions that war creates for the soldier and his family around him by discussing the the pre-deployment relationship between two brothers Henry and Lyman, Lyman's perception of Henry upon Henry's return, and Henry’s assumed view on life in the end of the story. Throughout "The Red Convertible" Erdrich embraces the car as a symbol for the powerful relationship between two brothers, Henry and Lyman. The brothers combine their money to acquire a red convertible which they drove everywhere together; the car symbolized that relationship.
In short story, “The Red Convertible” the different types of theme play a huge role in bringing the story together. The story is told from one of the brother’s, Lyman Lamartine, point of view about how he and his brother, Henry had partial ownership in a red convertible Oldsmobile car. The red convertible Oldsmobile car plays an important role as it represents the centralize point of the two brother’s relationship throughout the whole story. Louise Erdrich’s different themes help understand the relationship of Lyman and Henry through the red convertible Oldsmobile. Although, the red Oldsmobile is the central point of the story, hence the title of the story, the different themes of brotherhood/family, war, and neglect support the Oldsmobile becoming the central point and bringing the story together.
Henry one day comes home and says, “the red car looks like *censored*”(978). This one point in the story where Henry’s past actions before war were still there after war, completely surprise Lyman. As the Red Convertible progresses Henry’s appearance, mental state, and feelings about his once cherished car change because of the Vietnam War. The war had extreme effects on Henry and his brother throughout the story. 57,000 men and women died in Vietnam, and the soldiers that survived suffered the same post-war feelings that Henry did.