Theme
A
theme in “The Red Convertible” is “The Importance of Family”. The story begins
with Lyman telling the reader that he owned and shared a “red Olds” with his
brother Henry Junior until his brother had “bought out” his share. The story
shares with the reader the events that led up to the brothers purchasing the
convertible together, their summer adventures with it and their return home. During
their adventures, the brothers bond, meet new friends and share many site
seeing experiences together.
Lyman
and Henry decide to take a ride up to Winnipeg and to their surprise; they see
a beautiful red convertible car for sale. The brothers are awestruck by the car’s
beauty and impulsively purchase the car, leaving them with just enough gas
money to get home. Lyman tells the readers that some of their best times and
memories together were in that car. They spent a whole summer road tripping, non-stop
throughout Canada. They eventually meet a Native American girl by the name Susy
and offer her a ride home. Lyman and Henry’s next adventure takes them to Susy’s
hometown of Chicken, in Alaska and the brothers are welcome by her close knit
family to stay with them for a while. Even though the brothers were complete
strangers, the family took them in as if they were their own.
The
brothers had made it home just in time before the summer season was over and
when the Vietnam War was about to begin. Henry, being the oldest was signed up
for the draft and called to leave. Before his departure he told Lyman that the
beautiful car of their summer was now his to have and care for. Because of
their strong bond, Lyman wanted to continue sharing it with his brother and
once given the extra set of keys from Henry, Lyman responds “I’ll put it up in
your drawer in case I need it”.
Even through the end of the story, the readers know that even with the sadness that now plagues Lyman, he still love his brother and will miss him dearly.
Setting
The
setting of “The Red Convertible” takes place in a Chippewa tribe reservation during
the 1970’s. The author, Louise Erdrich grew up near the Turtle Mountain
Chippewa Reservation and visited there often for a chance to embrace her Native
American culture. Many of her other stories are written about life on the
reservation. The brothers live with their mother and sister, Bonita, on the
reservation in a close knit community.
The
story’s mood starts out light, with Lyman telling the readers about his success
with money, especially at an early age, but starts to dim and become dark once
Henry is called to the war. It was the Vietnam War that had called Henry away
from his family and into the Marines. Being on the reservation, resources were sometimes
very limited. At one point in the story, Lyman tells the readers that there are
no “Indian doctors” on the reservation.
Plot
The
plot in “The Red Convertible” starts out as a “trip down memory lane” when
Lyman begins the story while keeping the reason why he no longer owns the car a
secret. The rising action begins when Lyman starts telling the readers about
how he came into the money that helped him buy his share of the red convertible
with Henry on a trip to Winnipeg.
The first minor conflict is brought in when the brothers return home from their summer road trip only to find out that Henry has been called to the Vietnam War. Henry tells Lyman that the car is not solely his, but Lyman believe that the car belongs to both of them since they both paid for it. The summer road trip had strengthened their bond and to Lyman it just wouldn’t seem right not to share the convertible.
The first minor conflict is brought in when the brothers return home from their summer road trip only to find out that Henry has been called to the Vietnam War. Henry tells Lyman that the car is not solely his, but Lyman believe that the car belongs to both of them since they both paid for it. The summer road trip had strengthened their bond and to Lyman it just wouldn’t seem right not to share the convertible.
The second minor conflict occurs while Henry
has been with the military for quite some time. Lyman states that his brother
was never really that great of a writer in letters, but during his stay in the
military, Henry sent two letters to his family about his stay and only came
home once during Christmas time. It seems that the war might have started to
change Henry and Lyman’s bond because the distance between them was so far. To
try and keep their bond alive, Lyman wrote constant letters to Henry about the
car and how well it was being taken care of.
The
third minor conflict is revealed to the reader when Henry returns home from the
war. Three years had gone by and Henry had returned as a completely different
person, and not in a good way. He was distant from his family, especially from Lyman;
he was no longer the adventurous, comedic older brother that was once full of
spirit. He became zombie like and did nothing but watch TV for most of his
days. The rest of the family didn’t take much thought to Henry’s new state of
being, but Lyman did because of how close they were.
The major conflict of the story was Henry’s well-being and the family’s realization
of it. The family culturally was against Americanized hospitals, stating that “They
don’t fix them in those place, they just give them drugs” and there were not
any Native American doctors on the reservation.
Lyman knew that Henry was a changed man after realizing that Henry never
once looked at their red convertible when he returned home. As part of the
major conflict, Lyman destroys the car so badly, hoping to get Henry to notice
it. Henry suggests that they take their old car out for a spin, giving him to
Lyman that his brother was returning to normal. They spent
The
Climax of the story begins when Henry tells Lyman that the car is in horrible
condition, and how it never deserved to be treated that way. This realization
sparks an interest in Henry to restore the car to working condition. Henry
spends every day and night working on the car, slowly becoming more in tune
with his surrounding, enjoys his food and is not as jumpy as when he came home.
Henry stops focusing on the TV, and spend his time searching for parts to fix
that car, and by early spring it is completed.
The
falling action occurs when Lyman breaks down, shaking Henry and ask for him to
wake up from his zombie like life. Henry insists that Lyman take the car and
that he only fixed it to give it back while Lyman says he no longer wants it. This
prompts the brothers to a physical fight that leaves them in laughter. Henry
makes a sudden decision to jump into the river they initially drove the car out
to. The tide is high and the current is rapid, and Lyman finally see Henry.
Henry calmly stats that his boots are filling up with the water, and with a
blink of an eye, Henry is gone and nowhere to be found. The resolution to the
story and the reason why Lyman no longer owns his share of the car is when he
turns on the car and lets it sink into the river, hoping it finds his brother,
at peace.
Point of View
The
point of view is first person, as told by Lyman. Some examples are the opening
sentence where Lyman says “I was the first one to drive a convertible on my
reservation” and when he continues the story through his point of view; telling
the readers of his luck with money and his success. The story uses the words “I”,
“my”, “us’ and “me” throughout the story to imply that the point of view is
first person. We also only ever know the true thoughts and feelings on Lyman,
and only get an outsider’s view to how everyone else acts, especially Henry. When
Lyman begins to describe his summer adventure with the readers, he describes it
as if the readers can picture themselves with him.
Characterization of Lyman
Erdrich
does an amazing job with the characterization for the main characters in the
story. Lyman being the speaker of the story is an example of direct
characterization. Lyman is the one describing the detail in the story he even
tells us what Susy looks like and what she was wearing when he and Henry first
met her. Lyman says “All her hair was in buns around her ears…That girl was
short, so short her lumber shirt looked comical on her, like a nightgown”.
Lyman goes on to describe her outfit in further detail by letting the readers
know she was wearing jeans and “fancy moccasins and carried a little suitcase”. Another example is when Lyman tells us what
Henry looks like; he states Henry “had a nose big and sharp as a hatchet, like
the nose on Red Tomahawk” and that “He was built like a brick outhouse.”
Lyman
also describes himself as having a talent for making money. He was the luckiest
on the reservation with it, which he states was unusual in a Chippewa. When he
and Henry see the car for the very first time he describes the car as being “calm
and gleaming” and how “alive” the car was. This description shows us how he
feels about the car.
Other people in the story seem to treat Lyman as a very successful young boy; he owned the Joliet Cafe within a year of starting out as a dishwasher. He also states in the beginning of his success story that everyone on the reservation recognized that he was different than all the other Chippewa because he could always find a way to make money.
I would consider Lyman as being both a round character and a dynamic character. Lyman is all around good, but does posses some not so good qualities; He impulsively buys the red convertible without thinking it over and he doesn't give a second thought about the car before smashing it to get Henry's attention. Lyman is also a dynamic character; he grows and learns as his brother is away on how to take car of the car and how to fix it up. He also ages three years while his brother is away, putting him around the age of 19. At the end of the story, Lyman changes into a depressed soul due to the death of his brother, and describes how hard it is to look at the last photo they ever took together.
Irony
In
this story, there is an example of situational irony. This is shown by the fact
that Lyman and Henry were only able to purchase the convertible with money that
Lyman received for the destruction of his restaurant and the last two paychecks
Henry received from his job that just recently laid him off. Usually most
people in this type of situation would save the money, work on opening the
business back up or invest it in something of valuable return. Lyman and Henry
instead make an impulsive decision to buy the car before checking if they would
have money left for gas, which they did but just barely. Another example of situational irony is found
when the brothers offer Susy a ride home; they assume she must live somewhere
nearby when offering to take her home, and when she tells them that she lives
in Alaska, the brother willingly agree to take her there with no hesitation. Many
people would not drive this far to take someone home.
This
story does have one example of verbal irony as well. Upon restoring the
convertible after Lyman destroys it, Henry suggests that they “take that old
shitbox for a spin.” This is ironic because Henry just spent many days and cold
night restoring the car to its original condition of when they purchased it.
Symbolism
The
symbolism in this story was the red convertible. It symbolized a strengthened
bond between the brothers and also changed alongside the relationship of the
brothers as well. The car started out as this beautiful piece of art, and
continued to uphold itself through the brothers’ summer road trip. It was a
little banged up
after the many miles from their trip but it gave the car
character and symbolized the bond between Lyman and Henry. The car takes a
change for the worse though, when Lyman decided to destroy it to get Henry’s
attention, beating up pretty badly. I felt that the condition of the car
symbolized the brother’s currently relationship and also Henry’s state of mind.
The symbolization comes full circle when Henry jumps into the river and dies.
Lyman then makes the decision to let the car go, to be with Henry where ever he
may be in the river, thus becoming the ultimate reason why “Lyman walks
everywhere he goes” and how Henry “bought out” Lyman’s share of the car. This
symbolized the end of their living bond.
Final Thoughts
I
very much enjoyed this story. The detail and description of the story, setting
and places Lyman and Henry went keep me very intrigued. Also the opening
paragraph reeled me in when Lyman says he no longer owned that car that allowed
him to be the first to drive a convertible on the reservation. I had to find
out how and why his brother bought out his share. Anyone who likes vivid
imagery, detailed descriptions and mild suspense would like this story.
There were two weaknesses I found within the
story. The first being that I had no idea where exactly the story took place,
as far as country or state, because I am not familiar with Chippewa history.
The second one was that the minor characters like Susy and Bonita did not play
much of a part in the story. Their time in the story was very short lived and I
felt that the author could’ve expanded a bit more on what these characters were
like. After reading this story, I look forward to reading another one of Louise
Erdrich’s stories.
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| Louise Erdrich |
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