Brother And Lyman In The Red Convertible

In The Red Convertible two characters are displayed and explained throughout the tale. Henry and Lyman are brothers living on a reservation. Henry is the older brother, and Lyman is the younger brother and the narrator as well. Henry is a young man earning money very quickly with his many jobs that he has earned while Henry was recently laid off from his job at a jewelry store. Throughout the story the author develops both characters through a variety of techniques. Character development was key to making this story the wonderful story it is.
Lyman is the younger of the two brothers and he is very different from his brother, Henry. Lyman is entrepreneur and is very successful when it comes to making money and getting jobs. Lyman is very

supportive of his older and shares that commonly known brotherly love, fondness with him. Their relations with each other is very good and it shows by the way these two characters interact. Lyman is very helpful and is concatenate to everyone around him. He is also very observant of his surroundings and his big brother.
In the story Lyman shows he is very driven to earn money right from the start by stating, “My one talent was I could always make money.

I had the touch for it, unusual in a Chippewa” (pg.126). He gives examples of him moving up in positions from a waiter to owning the business. You get a sense of this because when Henry goes off into war Lyman takes excellent car of the car and later gives him the car because he always thought of it as his big brother’s car. He keeps the key of the car in his drawer and tends to barrow it even though Henry clearly stated the car was his. The car symbolized their brotherly love for each other. Henry and Lyman went on a road trip taking a hitchhiker to her home town of Alaska. Being on the road with each other you get of sense of how truly close they are as brothers by even taking that long journey. As any other little brother would Lyman tries very crucially to help his brother turn to the way he once was before he left for the war. He intentionally breaks and ruins the red convertible to get the brother to fix it up. This tactic works partially; it does bring back fondness between the two. Lyman is a very observant. He notices the small signs of PTSD that Henry is experiencing. He tries so eagerly to help. Henry demonstrates he is mental ill and Lyman picks up on these

signs.
Lyman’s characteristics are shown the actions he does through the entire store. From him working and earning money to help buy the car to building up the car. In the story Lyman’s actions show more of who he is. Not much dialogue is expressed, dialogue is expressed but actions explain the story mainly. Not only does the actions set his traits to the audience but the author enters Lyman’s mind. It gives his thought on his brother and how to help him.
Personally I do not believe the author did an effective job of making Lyman a round character. He isn’t so much complex or a challenge to understand. In the text it clearly gives numerous hints to how he is as a person. The author did do a great job at creating a dynamic character. At the beginning of the story Lyman kind of has a sense of a little boy but at the end it’s like he grows up. Seeing his brother act in such a strange manner it changes Lyman. He doesn’t see henry in the same way. Finally, when henry dies a part of his dies as well. He cannot see pictures of his brother and that’s strange because of the bond they shared. Lyman definitely changes from the beginning of the story to the ending.