A Comparison Of Grape Sherbet And The Red Convertible

Jeremy Irons, an actor known for several blockbuster movies, says “We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they’re called memories. Some take us forward, they’re called dreams.” In “Grape Sherbet” the narrator struggles with the missing memory of a traditional ice cream that her face made on Memorial Day. In “Two Kinds” Jing-Mei recollects on her childhood and the quarrels she went through with her mother. Lyman, of “The Red Convertible,” thinks back to the red convertible that he shared with his brother, Henry. The connecting theme of these works is to create happy and meaningful memories with loved ones while they are still here. This is illustrated through characters losing a family member through death or separation and then regretting that they do not spend more time with them.

In “Grape Sherbet” the narrator reflects on a past Memorial Day shared with her father and wishes that she had spent more time with him. “I’ve been trying to remember the taste, but it doesn’t exist... Now I see why you bothered, father” (l 25-30). The narrator wishes they had paid more attention to the flavor of the sherbet the

father used to make. It is implied that their father is now deceased or gone and therefor unable to recreate the sherbet that is so loved by the rest of the family.
In “Two Kinds,” Jing-Mei tells the story of her childhood and the war she went through with her mother to decide what she would do with her life.

“‘Pleading Child’ was shorter was shorter and slower, ‘Perfectly Contented’ was longer but faster. And after I had played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song” (Tan 6). Throughout Jing-Mei’s childhood she was forced into many different activities so that she could become a prodigy. Jing-Mei finally gave up and refused to be a prodigy any longer. As an adult her mother gifts her the piano that she once suffered over. Jing-Mei begins to play songs that are reminiscent of her childhood. “Pleading Child” was shorter and slower, ‘Perfectly Contented” was longer but faster. And after I had played them both a few times, I realized they were two halves of the same song” (Tan

6).
In “The Red Convertible,” Lyman thinks back to the relationship he once had with his older brother Henry and how it changed, just like the red convertible they once shared. When Henry goes to war it changes him. He comes back distant and has PTSD. Lyman is left to pick up the pieces of the relationship he once had with his brother. They fight and break and put themselves back together. Much like the red convertible that they co-own. The convertible is left idle while Henry is away and it becomes destroyed like their relationship. The brothers try to fix the car, but in the end it does not work out. “Now Henry owns the whole car, and his younger brother Lyman (that’s myself), Lyman walks everywhere he goes” (Erdrich 1).
All three works share a theme of creating memories with loved ones before they are gone. The narrator wishes for more memories with their father in “Grape Sherbet.” Jing-Mei wishes for happier memories with her mother in “Two Kinds.” Lyman wishes for kinder memories of his brother Henry in “The Red Convertible.”