War affects a person’s relationships with people close to them and their relationships with themselves. Erdrich embodies those changes through the text in “The Red Convertible.” “‘My boots are filling,’ he says. He says this in a normal voice, like he just noticed and he doesn’t know what to think of it. Then he’s gone” (Erdrich 363) shows the reader the last moments between the brothers before Henry is gone forever. Henry is assumed to take his own life, concluding the short story and further enforcing the devastating effects that the war had on Henry.
The courageous defeats against the Confederate soldiers resulted to the end of the Civil War and the victorious Union soldiers who can now go home to their families. Henry's injuries, his role during the battles, his loneliness, and his survival tactics all have an immense impact on how Henry fought and lived throughout the course of the Civil War. During the Civil War, injuries caused lots of damage on soldiers and their bodies. Usually, when a soldier gets severely injured, amputation was the best option. A common phrase, “Bite the Bullet”, became very prevalent upon the Civil War culture.
These images are used to show the immense harm and the brutality of war and its effect on men. The dead soldier describes the blood that clogged their “chariot-wheels” (line 35) showing his regret for participating in the war now that he was aware of its ugliness. Thus, when the soldier states that “the foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were” (line 42), he truly expresses the cruelty of war and how it leaves men with scarred souls. All of these images highlight the pure pain of war. Owen’s use of assonance, alliteration and onomatopoeia in the poem help to bring it to life and remind us of the horrific situation at ... ... middle of paper ... ...fred Owen to effectively build sympathy for the second soldier as he describes the pain that men suffered in war.
Homesick, Grief and Horror the Themes of War War stories have reoccurring themes because war impacts so many peoples’ lives. War can make a person homesick where all the can think of is going home. Some people suffer from grief the loss of a loved one or someone they knew being killed in battle. Others recall absolute horror and shock from the things they have seen. War takes its toll on everybody, from the people on the battlefield to the family’s at home.
“The Red Convertible” transports the reader to an environment where they can witness the changes in a soldier and horrible mental state for those soldiers with PTSD when they return from war. War affects a person’s relationships with people close to them and their relationships with themselves. Erdrich embodies those changes through the text in “The Red Convertible.” Works Cited Erdich, Louise. “The Red Convertible.” 1984. Literature: A Pocket Anthology.
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.
In some Native American cultures the color red means beauty, faith and happiness but sometimes it means blood, violence, and energy. Within the story there were two brothers that loved each other dearly. They had love for each other and everything was great between them. One day Henry lost his job and his brother Lyman had already had money saved up and they went to Winnipeg to get away and there they saw the car, the red convertible. Since both of the brothers were so close, they decided to buy the car.
From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.”(117) In addition to psychological issues, the soldiers are coming home with this dismal world view, and outlook. It is clear why they are referred to as the “lost generation.” Some were lost in the war, many in psychological problems, and most all to this perspective on life. Many of the soldiers did not understand who or why they were fighting, or the justification of committing atrocities on the battlefield. They were told what to believe by their senior officers and widespread pr... ... middle of paper ... ...ercentage of veterans.
This harsh attitude and military discipline no doubt had an effect on why men continued to fight - they had no other choice. Today those conditions still play on the minds of remaining soldiers. One would think that the horrors of a war in which you lived, slept and killed in a muddy trench for months at a time, would need more than a few days' rest. Seeing hundreds of your friends gunned down or blown apart must surely have an adverse effect on the mind of a person subjected to it for months - or years - at a time. Then, we may not have known the full effects of war on a human mind.
Society tells people that if they go to war and fight for their country, they are heroes. Every generation has war heroes that sacrificed a great deal. Many heroes die fighting for their nation while other heroes survive and have to live with post-traumatic symptoms either stimulated by physical and/or mental trauma. Ernest Hemingway, an expatriate of World War I, recognizes the effects of the war has on soldiers and effectively captivates the heroes’ distress, alienation, and detachment in The Sun Also Rises through his writing style. Hemingway terse and simple, yet effective, sentences captivates people into his novel.