Analysis Of The Red Convertible

“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 is written in first person, we get to know about Lyman and his emotions than they do about Henry. But the author, Louise Erdrich, has tried to go farther and deeper feelings into the character of Henry by means of the red convertible. Throughout this story, the course of “The Red Convertible” becomes the life story of Henry and everything it represents is somehow affiliated with Henry and his changing condition. At the beginning when the two brothers saw the car “Really as if it was alive. I thought of the word repose, because the car wasn't simply stopped, parked, or whatever. That car reposed, calm and gleaming” (359). It can be see that this is a mental condition of Henry who is calm and happy is and delighted with this car.
Lyman, on the other hand, appears to be in fear for his brother, when he’s at war in the same way he fears for the car. While Lyman is the...

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...rson might not recover from the bad experiences they went through even though the best is done to help them out.
In conclusion, although Henry is "built like a brick outhouse" he is still very vulnerable and he needs help. This is to show how the biggest and strongest person might still be very helpless at some moment in their life, but that even the attention and care of his closest friends or family might not be enough to bring back to him the joy to live. Lyman simply retells the memories of his brother, Henry, when times were happy and when times were not affected by Henry’s change in character after the war. At first, the American dream for Lyman was a luxury convertible that could give him and Henry joy to share, but after realizing the effects of the war on Henry, the red convertible becomes less important, which is why he let the car sink with Henry’s death.