Symbolism In The Red Convertible

1310 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The symbolism of the Red convertible in The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich

Blood is Thicker Than Water In “The Red Convertible,” Louise Erdrich through her first- person narrator Lyman, creates an unspoken emotional bond between two brothers. This emotional bond between the brothers is not directly spoken to each other, but rather is communicated through and symbolized by “The Red Convertible.” In spite of what appears as a selfless act by one brother, in turn, causes pain in the other brother, as no feelings were communicated. In this case, Lyman explains his version as he takes us through the experiences that he and his brother Henry have with the car. At the beginning of the story, you find that Lyman and Henry are like somewhat typical brothers living on the reservation. Although between the two brothers, Lyman …show more content…

The brothers for the same reason took the car and just drove for one full summer. In fact, they used the car just to drive for a casual and carefree summer. As a result, at one point they just rested as honeymooners would, with Lyman’s remembrance of the place as “the air was not too still...I feel good. Henry was asleep with his arms thrown wide” (325). Afterward, they continue on their honeymoon by picking up a girl and ending in Alaska. Indeed, what better place to honeymoon in the summer than Alaska. As Lyman said, “the sun doesn’t truly set there in summer” (325), and “you never feel like you have to sleep hard or put away the world” (325). Hence, all honeymoons must end, and as the days got shorter they decided to return to …show more content…

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

Show More
Related

  • Influential Supreme Court Case: Gideon vs. Wainwright

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    After this second marriage Clarence became siblings with Roy E Ogden, his half-sister and a half-brother named Russell Lee Anderson. Clarence thought his stepfather was a really good man, despite being uneducated. This was, of course, the case until Clarence reached the eighth grade of Hannibal High School. His step-father became very non-accepting towards him and his mom was really strict even though he still understood his mother’s good intentions.... ...

    Read More

  • On "The Red Convertible"

    488 Words  | 1 Pages

    Lyman's share, in fact, Henry tries to give the car to Lyman. Lyman refuses the offer and

    Read More

  • Lyman In Ernest Hemingway's The Red Incredible

    516 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lyman and his brother Henry, decide to spend a perfect summer enjoying the red convertible going place to place, and experiencing life together. "We went places in that car, me and Henry. We took off driving all one whole summer." (443) Not really thinking it over, but making an impulsive decision to

    Read More

  • Theme Of Killing By Andre Dubus

    1220 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, the easily overlooked similarity is the concept of love. This emotion is merely overlooked. Through this similarity, it becomes evident that love not only is something yearned for by humanity, but also a temptation so strong it can blind us to reality. This blindness can cause the pain of death. Love can cause people to do crazy things, and if you are Lieutenant Cross, even make you treat a pebble as if it were a tongue. Frank’s love for Mary Ann, as innocent as it may seem, exists as a love for a married woman. Love and lust are dangerous beasts, ones that we as readers must be weary of, for if we are not, we may find ourselves sharing the same fate as Frank, death by

    Read More

  • The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Denny’s late wife Eve dies, his whole world is changed. Trish and Maxwell - the evil Twins - plot against Denny by pulling him into a major court battle. As a result, Denny is forced to sacrifice major opportunities in order to win custody of his daughter, Zoë. “ “I appreciate your generous offer,” he [Denny] said. “But I’m afraid certain things prevent me from leaving this country – or even this state – at the moment. So I have to decline.” (Stein 276) Luca Pantoni – a man that worked at Ferrari – asked Denny if he wanted to move out to Italy with his family where he could test cars for a living. With the major court battle going on Denny had to politely refuse the offer. Knowing Denny’s personality it would have been difficult for him to decline such a great offer, but at that moment he had to think about his family first. Next to Eve, Zoë is the most important person in Denny’s life. The death of Eve was unexpected for both Denny and Zoë, but Denny could not let his sadness and frustration show...

    Read More

  • Brothers' Relationship: The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of The Red Convertible

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Frank And April Wheeler In Revolutionary Road

    1398 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout a lifetime, one can run through many different personalities that transform constantly due to experience and growing maturity, whether he or she becomes the quiet, brooding type, or tries out being the wild, party maniac. Richard Yates examines acting and role-playing—recurring themes throughout the ages—in his fictional novel Revolutionary Road. Frank and April Wheeler, a young couple living miserably in suburbia, experience relationship difficulties as their desire to escape grows. Despite their search for something different, the couple’s lack of communication causes their planned move to Europe to fall through. Frank and April Wheeler play roles not only in their individual searches for identity, but also in their search for a healthy couple identity; however, the more the Wheelers hide behind their desired roles, the more they lose sense of their true selves as individuals and as a pair.

    Read More

  • Louise Erdrich's Tracks

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Louise Erdrich’s “Tracks';, the readers discovers by the second chapter that there are two narrators, Nanapush and Pauline Puyat. This method of having two narrators telling their stories alternately could be at first confusing, especially if the readers hasn’t been briefed about it or hasn’t read a synopsis of it. Traditionally, there is one narrator in the story, but Erdrich does an effective and spectacular job in combining Nanapush and Pauline’s stories. It is so well written that one might question as he or she reads who is the principal character in this story? Being that there are two narrators, is it Nanapush, the first narrator, him being a participant in the story, who tells his story in the “I'; form? Or is it Pauline, the second narrator, who also narrates in the “I'; form? Upon further reading, the motive for both narrators’ stories become more evident, and by the end of the book, it becomes clear that one character is the driving force for both of the narrators’ stories. This central character is Fleur Pillager. She in fact is the protagonist of “Tracks';. Even though she is limited in dialogues, her actions speak more than words itself.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In 'The Red Convertible'

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Essay Comparing The Awakening and Story of an Hour

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    The heroine, Mrs. P, has some carries some characteristics parallel to Louise Mallard in “Hour.” The women of her time are limited by cultural convention. Yet, Mrs. P, (like Louise) begins to experience a new freedom of imagination, a zest for life , in the immediate absence of her husband. She realizes, through interior monologues, that she has been held back, that her station in life cannot and will not afford her the kind of freedom to explore freely and openly the emotions that are as much a part of her as they are not a part of Leonce. Here is a primary irony.

    Read More

  • Love Medicine Sparknotes

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    Taking place on a present day Indian reservation, Louise Erdrich’s novel Love Medicine introduces us to several fiction characters with very real emotional, mental, social and economic issues that are real to today’s society. At first glance, Love Medicine appears to be a compelling story of love, power, and pride. Its’ collection of characters all tell there own story offering different opinions and views. This variety makes the story very interesting. The reader gets to know each character very personally because of all the different views. Many of the same events are described differently by each character, as expected. But this variance allows the reader to draw his/her own conclusions and affords the opportunity to know the personality

    Read More

  • Masculinity In The Great Gatsby

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    When the hostility between Gatsby and Tom increases during their conversation in the Buchanan’s house, Tom decides that they will all go to town to diminish the tension. Vehicle represents the status and the masculinity of the owner; hence, most upper class men dislike sharing their vehicles with others. Correspondingly, Tom Buchanan suggests to drive Gatsby’s car to town and sneers “I’ll take you in this circus wagon” (Page 128) in an effort to humiliate Gatsby. While driving to town, Tom stops at Wilson’s garage for some gasoline, and he promotes Gatsby’s car as his to Wilson. At that night, Myrtle Wilson was ran over and killed immediately by a yellow vehicle. Afterwards, George Wilson recognizes that the “death car” was the same one that Tom drove this afternoon. However, Tom explains that he just arrived the scene in a blue coupe and has not seen the yellow car all afternoon, thus proving himself innocent of Myrtle’s death. Moreover, George Wilson discovers an expensive dog leash in Myrtle’s possession. Although Tom bought Myrtle the dog leash, the clueless George Wilson assumes that the driver of the “death car” and Myrtle’s lover are the same person. Wilson reaches conclusion as he believes that Myrtle was familiar with the car’s driver because she was trying to stop the car and talk to the driver. As a result, Tom Buchanan misleads George Wilson to assume that the owner of the

    Read More

  • Feminine Narrative in Alice Walker's The Color Purple

    1476 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the past two centuries, western mainstream cultures have subscribed to the belief that crying is commonly associated with femininity, regardless of one’s gender (Warhol 182). A considerable amount of literature, including Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, has been considered by critics as effectively using “narrative techniques” to make readers cry (Warhol 183). Emphasizing on these matters, Robyn R. Warhol, the author of “Narration Produces Gender: Femininity as Affect and Effect in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple”, analyzes the usefulness of the novel’s narration approaches, focusing on the meaning of Nettie’s letters to Celie and especially the fairy-tale unity in Celie’s last letter. Using The Color Purple as illustrated example, refusing to consider the accounts of gender and sexuality, the author suggests that the applications of culture’s “feminine mythologies” in the novel give readers chances to experience the physical (openly weeping) and emotional (identify self with the character) effects of femininity (Warhol 186). Although Warhol’s interpretations have successfully carried out the novel’s sentimentality within the context of culture and other novels, there is still a general lack of comprehensive examples that illustrated after each of her arguments. In order to corroborate and extend on Warhol’s central argument, the surprising factors of the novel’s ending combines with the elements of foreshadowing in Celie’s first confrontation with Albert about Nettie’s letters, Celie’s relationship with Shug, and the ugly truths about racism and sexism showing through Nettie’s and Celie’s letters should be considered as significant in creating the novel’s sentimentality.

    Read More

More about Symbolism In The Red Convertible

Open Document