Brothers tend to have a unique relationship, one that is incomparable to a friend, but in the story “The Red Convertible” by writer Louise Erdrich, shows us how war can alter the friendship between two brothers, when one of them comes back from war. The Author takes us through the struggles that two brothers will face, and try to overcome after on of them, Henry, comes back from war. Upon Henrys’ return, Lyman will try to fix his relationship with his brother, until both will give up and accept, the consequences of the experiences they faced through the story. war can benefit a relationship, the red convertible shows us how the friendship between two brothers is before the war, and how it changes after it, and all the damages that causes to someone’s mental state. …show more content…
They like to do everything together, they event purchased a car, specifically a red convertible, that they would use to travel all over the place. Through out the entire story the author uses symbolism to represent Henry and Lyman’s friendship status through a red Convertible. Before henry had to go to war, the two brothers barely had any disputes, it was like nothing could make them angry, they were just living their everyday lives and all they cared about was having each other and the red convertible by their side, as stated in the story “some people hang on to details when they travel, but we didn’t let them bother us and just lived our everday lives here to here” (The red convertible). They were young, energetic and fun, and nothing could bother them. Henry’s mental state and friendship with layman was unbreakable at this point. However, nothing was ever going to be the same after Henry got called in to go to war, and had to come back the way he
Many war stories today have happy, romantic, and cliche ending; many authors skip the sad, groosom, and realistic part of the story. W. D. Howell’s story, Editha and Ambrose Bierce’s story, An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge both undercut the romantic plots and unrealistic conclusions brought on by many stories today. Both stories start out leading the reader to believe it is just another tpyical love-war senario, but what makes them different is the one-hundred and eighty degrees plot twist at the end of each story. In the typical love-war story the soldier would go off to war, fighting for his country, to later return safely to his family typically unscaved.
In “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich the two main characters Lyman and Henry are brothers that have an amazing relationship with one another. In the beginning of the story Erdrich writes about how Lyman and Henry bought a gorgeous red convertible; and together they went on plenty of road trips and bonded over the car. On the other hand, the two siblings in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” don’t have that same sibling bond. The siblings in “Everyday Use”, Maggie and Dee, are complete opposites. Dee is extremely vain, snobbish, and outspoken while Maggie is coy, insecure, and timid. Although Maggie and Dee aren’t as close as Lyman and Henry, they still have a very complex relationship in terms of being “close” to one another even though it seems as if they’re from two different planets. In the stories “Everyday Use” and “The Red Convertible”, the characters share one particular trait which is
Tony Palmer, the author of “Break of Day”, tells a story that takes place in and out of war. The story follows a man named Murray Barrett who lives in the times of ww2. He ends up finding himself in the middle of it, down at Port Moresby. During the midst of war, Murray ends up coming across an injured Sid Archer, a childhood enemy and the man who stole Will’s (Murray’s older brother) childhood lover. Murray helps Sid instead of abandoning him, despite their childhood drama. In this book, Palmer really focuses on the themes of family, death, and bravery. He presents to us how complicated families can get, how people deal with death differently from others, and how there are many forms of bravery.
In the two novels of recent war literature Redeployment, by Phil Klay, and The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, both call attention to the war’s destruction of its soldiers’ identities. With The Things They Carried, we are introduced to the story of a young Lieutenant Jimmy Cross who is currently fighting in the Vietnam War and holds a deep crush for his college-lover Martha. Jimmy carries many letters from Martha with him throughout the war, and he envisions this romantic illusion in which “more than anything, he want[s] Martha to love him as he love[s] her” (1). However, a conflict quickly transpires between his love for Martha and his responsibilities with the war, in which he is ultimately forced to make a decision between the two.
Whereas, when Henry was drafted, not to face his feelings and fears he offered his half of the car to Lyman. Clearly, this was his way of using the car to communicate, as Henry said to Lyman, “Now it’s yours” (326). Also, this could also be considered as a means to try to ease Lyman’s pain. Nevertheless, Lyman fought for the relationship without speaking the words. Besides, what’s more Lyman could not deal with the fact that Henry may not return, and he also used the car to communicate by rejecting his offer saying, “Thanks for the extra key,”(326). By the same token, they were using the car, by giving it up, as a symbol of their love; however, neither wanted the car without the other brother. In any case, without the car to connect them, they are in a break-up
American soldiers have battled in conflicts they were involuntarily forced into by the draft, only to recognize the war formed within their minds would never truly cease and become a destructive syndrome hampering their ability to cope with society. In 1919, by Toni Morrison and The Red Convertible, by Louise Erdrich, Shadrack and Henry Lamartine are both attempted to reintroduce themselves into society, but suffered extreme psychological damage implanted by their experiences in military conflict. Although Shadrack and Henry attempted the same feat, they were still subject to differences caused by the era of their existence and the situation they were reintroduced into. Both Shadrack and Henry endured extensive amounts of Post-Traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD for short, causing virtually intolerable difficulties and consequently, exposing the idea of either Shadrack or Henry mentally returning to their pre-war psychological state as a fabricated hope.
The dramatic realization of the fact that the war will affect a member of the Chance family is apparent in this quote. The amount of sorrow and emotions felt by the Chance family, and for that matter, all families who had children, brothers, husbands, or fathers, drafted into what many felt was a needless war. The novel brings to life what heartache many Americans had to face during the Vietnam era, a heartache that few in my generation have had the ability to realize.
...rich 363) We know that for Lyman, the car doesn’t mean anything to him without his brother, so he sends the car off into the river just as his brother had done. The car has always symbolized the bond between the brothers, sometimes sad and sometimes happy, the car always shows the readers the type of bond the two brothers shared.
To what lengths would you go for a loved one? Would you destroy something in hopes that it would save them? That 's what Lyman Lamartine did in hopes to fix his PTSD afflicted brother. "The Red Convertible" was written by Louise Erdrich in 1974 and published in 2009 along with several other short stories. Lyman, and Henry, are brothers. The story starts by telling us about how the two brothers acquired a red convertible. Henry ends up being drafted into the Vietnam War, and comes back home suffering from PTSD. One day the pair decided to take a drive to the Red River because Henry wanted to see the high water. Ultimately, the story ends with a cliff-hanger, and we are left wondering what happens to the boys. The symbolic nature of the red convertible will play a key role in this literary analysis, along with underling themes of PTSD and war.
PTSD, also known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, can cause change and bring about pain and stress in many different forms to the families of the victims of PTSD. These changes can be immense and sometimes unbearable. PTSD relates to the characters relationship as a whole after Henry returns from the army and it caused Henry and Lyman’s relationship to crumble. The Red Convertible that was bought in the story is a symbol of their brotherhood. The color red has many different meanings within the story that relates to their relationship.
Lyman says, “We went places in that car, me and Henry. We took off driving all one whole summer” (135). The car symbolized their carefree and innocent lives. They took off without a car in the world and made memories in their car. Bussey asserts in her critical essay, “At the time, Lyman was only sixteen, an age at which most young people long to explore the world and to make their own decisions. Together, Lyman and Henry used the car to leave the reservation where they lived and to see what was beyond its borders” (Para 5). This is exactly what the two were doing when they traveled all across the country. The car created a bond between the two. The first paragraph symbolizes the foreshadowing of Henry’s death, “We owned it together until his boots filled with water on a windy night and he bought out my share” (134). Initially this statement is not clear until you finish the story. When the car and Henry both go into the water it symbolizes the end of Lyman’s innocence and the end of the relationship between the two brothers. The car had lost meaning once his brother was
of war. Before Henry Jr. went to Vietnam, he and Lyman (his younger brother) bought a
In the story “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, the reader is enlightened about a boy who was mentally and emotionally drained from the horrifying experiences of war. The father in the story knows exactly what the boy is going through, but he cannot help him, because everyone encounters his or her own recollection of war. “When their faces are contorted from sucking the cigarette, there is an unmistakable shadow of vulnerability and fear of living. That gesture and stance are more eloquent than the blood and guts war stories men spew over their beers” (Zabytko 492). The father, as a young man, was forced to reenact some of the same obligations, yet the father has learne...
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. Henry was faced with war and when he was finished and came back home he changed because of his experiences. Both Lyman and Henry changed throughout the events that took place, but unfortunately for Lyman the red convertible was not able to bring back the relationship they had when they first bought it together.
...is story, Hemingway brings the readers back the war and see what it caused to human as well as shows that how the war can change a man's life forever. We think that just people who have been exposed to the war can deeply understand the unfortunates, tolls, and devastates of the war. He also shared and deeply sympathized sorrows of who took part in the war; the soldiers because they were not only put aside the combat, the war also keeps them away from community; people hated them as known they are officers and often shouted " down with officers" as they passing. We have found any blue and mournful tone in this story but we feel something bitter, a bitter sarcasm. As the war passing, the soldiers would not themselves any more, they became another ones; hunting hawks, emotionless. They lost everything that a normal man can have in the life. the war rob all they have.