“The Red Convertible” “One in five veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder also known as PTSD...Veterans now account for 20 percent of suicides in the US”(“Shocking”). This relates to Stefan in the Red Convertible because when he leaves for war he is fine, but when he comes back he has PTSD. Marty and his brother buy a red convertible with their insurance from their restaurant after it was destroyed by a tornado. However, a few years after they buy the convertible, Stephen goes off to war in Vietnam and the bond between himself and Marty becomes broken. Finally, after Stephan returns back home from Vietnam, Marty tries to convince Stefan to get interested in the convertible once again. This …show more content…
“Then, before we had thought it over at all, the car belonged to us and our pockets were empty...Some people hang on to details when they travel, but we didn't let them bother us and just lived our everyday lives here to there” (Erdrich 136). Erdrich emphasized that the convertible trips were very significant to the brothers, especially with the phrase “just lived our everyday lives here to there”. This phrase determined that the brothers enjoyed their small road trips with each other where they could just live life and be themselves. When they come back from their trip, unfortunately Stefan has to go to war. He is gone for two years, and when he returns he is different. Marty said that “he thought the old car would bring old Stephen back somehow” (Erdrich 140). So Marty damaged the vehicle in hopes to change Stephen back to the way he was before. In which Marty was successful “That car’s a classic! But you went and ran the piss right out of it” (Erdrich 140). Being away at war made Stephen forget about the vehicle that was so important to him before, but after going through his violent stage he realized that the car did mean a lot to him. His attitude changed when he realized that his brother trashed the vehicle. Erdrich expressed that violence can be changed, specifically with the phrase “but ran the piss right out of it”. Stephen was angry when his brother damaged the car, which lead him to begin caring again. When someone “runs the piss right out of something”, it means that a nice thing went downhill quickly, in which Erdrich determined that the convertible being damaged helped Stephen return back to his old self. Although his brother changed, it didn’t break their brotherly bond. The effect which is clearly displayed in the secondary theme is that a
“A Summer in the Cage” is a documentary filmed by Ben Selkow that shows his friend Sam battling with a manic-depressive illness known as bipolar disorder. The main theme of this film is the struggles the main character Sam goes through when battling bipolar disorder. Selkow firsts meets Sam while filming a documentary about street basketball. Ever since that day, they became close friends. Sam decided to help make the documentary with Selkow. Selkow begins to realize after spending so much time with Sam that he had something off about him. At this time, Sam was having is first manic episode. When Sam was eight years old, his father committed suicide due to battling the same disorder. Throughout this documentary, Sam tries to escape that same
Philip Levine’s “Bobby Hefka” develops a deeper message, theme, of American society in the 1940s where people avoid racism and its many other issues. The poem exposes the fact that with society, avoiding its issues, they are not learning from them thus, society isn’t making any progress. Levine pinpoints a main cause to the stagnant society which is the stresses of World War II. His use of a metaphor guides us; the readers, to get a grasp on the size and prevalence of World War II in society, “Beyond him the dark clouds of 1945 / were clustering over Linwood” (33-34). The author is comparing the war to dark clouds and gives 1945 a negative connotation to help highlight that it represents the war. This metaphor provides the text with a meaning and with it we can decipher that society is solely focusing on the war and can’t address other issues, racism.
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.
Diamant has Dinah effectively tell her story from three different narrative perspectives. The bulk of the novel is related by Dinah in first person, providing a private look at growing up and personal tragedy: "It seemed that I was the last person alive in the world" (Diamant 203). Dinah tells the story that she says was mangled in the bible.
A key theme in Tim Winton’s unpredictable short story collection, ‘The turning’ is about the brotherly relationship between Fred and Max. One of the major issues with this relevant theme is action.
Over the past few weeks I have finished Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain, which was 328 pages long. Also, I read and finished Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, which was 275 pages long. The novel The Art of Racing in the Rain ended in a way that I never expected. The grandparents accused Denny of raping a teenage girl, and brought him to court for it. They coveted Zoe and did this so that they could receive full custody over her. Denny worked day after day with his lawyer to be able to prove that he did not rape her. In the midst of all the commotion, an Italian driving school owner approached Denny to see if he would be interested in moving there with his family to help run the school. Also, Enzo’s health has been depreciating and he is not doing too well. Once the court date arrived, it ended in the favor of Denny and he was able to keep his little Zoe. Enzo ended up dying, but came back later in the novel as a person. When Denny and Zoe moved to Italy to the professional school, one of the student’s name was Enzo, and Denny was convinced that it was him coming back to say hello. In Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five the author recalls his life living through World War 2. He
One can easily see the love both, Lyman and Henry had for one another, especially Lyman. He never calls the red convertible is own in fact, throughout the story he treats the convertible as Henry's car. After the enemy caught Henry, Lyman wrote him several letters. "Even though I didn't know if those letters would get through. I kept him informed all about the car" said Lyman ( Erdrich 332). While Henry was away for 3 years, "In those years, I'd
Nature is its own being. It does not care how it affects people, nor does it care whether its actions are understood by man. Nature does not set out to purposely harm nor help anyone. In other words, it is not cruel or compassionate. It is simply its own indifferent being. Stephen Crane shows this in his short story, “The Open Boat”. Stephen Crane writes this story from a real life experience in which he too was stranded on a dinghy after being shipwrecked. Through this story, his feelings about nature are revealed (Spofford 1). “The Open Boat”, written by Stephen Crane, reveals that nature is indifferent to the struggles of man through the use of imagery, foreshadowing, and narrative method.
Stephen: “But he never hit you” Elaine: “If he thinks for a minute you’re stuck in the past he’ll Beat you” These words illustrate how Stephen has been emotionally scarred by what his father did to him and can’t live his life properly because he is living with the memory of his tragic childhood. This conflict, which has grown between these two characters, does not just go in the one direction, Robert is in conflict with Stephen but for an entirely different reason. Robert never loved Stephen however Stephen continued trying to change his father’s opinion. The only way Robert could react to this was to hit Stephen. Robert: “I couldn’t give a tuppenny damn whether you forgave me or not…” Stephen: “all I wanted from him…
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.
Ashley was clearing her mind because she felt electricity the other day when he touched her hand. She had imagined it, strange things like that just didn't exist. Did they? Whatever it was, Ashley knew one thing. She didn't want it anymore. This would ruin her current relationship with him. Mark meant everything to her, and she couldn't lose him. He'd have no interest in her. The Tomboy. If he ever found out the truth, he'd put an end to the friendship between them and laugh. Ashley can't afford to let that happen. That's when the shabby, 1990 Toyota Corolla, pulled up, she turned around to face the passenger side of the car, just as her brother stuck his big fat head outside the window. “Ash, we were looking everywhere,” He said, “Why did
In Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat, the lack of concern of Nature is a reoccurring theme. The part Nature plays strengths man to battle with his own part in life. With a skewed impression of the universe, man must legitimate spot among Nature. These themes are found in the written work strategies of the writer. Crane utilizes tone, symbolism, and straightforward sentence structure to depict man's accommodation to the lack of interest of Nature. The written work style, character depictions and occasions portrayed in Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat mirror a solid feeling of naturalism.
"Red Dress" by Alice Munro The short story "Red Dress" by Alice Munro is about a young girl's first high school dance. Her home and school environment determined her attitude towards the dance. This girl's home life was bad. She was constantly put down mentally by her mother, even in front of her friend Lonnie, to the point that the narrator envied Lonnie on account that her mother died and she lived alone with her father. " 'I doubt if she appreciates it.'
Rob beamed and started telling her all the details of his sixty-four Mustang, cream, and red. “I bought it by saving my money from working at Tribal Pizza. You know delivery driving earns me excellent tips on the weekend. Living at home with my dad, means I don’t have to pay for anything. It was more simple than I imagined to save up for the parts I needed. I became Amazon’s favorite customer while I was replacing all the interior and exterior parts. My dad and I worked on this baby for almost a year. It was in terrible shape when I bought it. It had been sitting in Mr. Johnson’s barn ever since his son died. I am not sure what year that was, I just know it was a long time ago. After Dad and I finished, I fell completely in love. I am such a proud