In the short story Red Convertible, the two brothers, as close as they are, you really never know how someone is or feels or acts unless you truly know what they’ve been through or if you are them and have gone through what they’ve been through. The brothers had always been close they’re whole life, but the split really changes one. in the way he thinks and does things with his people. Lyman and Henry really have a true connection with each other. The car they bought together without really thinking twice about it and they shared it really just shows us that the brothers have a stronger bond than most because they were both broke and, they spent every dollar they had on the car. Another example, in the story that shows us the bond they have …show more content…
The most harmful and maybe the most irreversible effect of PTSD is the harming of oneself and family. Many veterans attempt to take their lives and some successfully did. About 500,000 had tried to take their live because they could not live with the burdens that PTSD brings. PTSD is directly connected with the veterans harming themselves. (Dean 18) Most of the time the veteran is guilty, but what triggers the harmful thoughts are the emotions that they were experiencing while in the traumatic event. Theses emotions are avoided at any cost, and this makes them do some pretty crazy things. They just close themselves up from everyone and anything. Family can not even get to them because the persona of the emotions they are trying to avoid experiencing again. (Wilson 11) Other things they do is major substance abuse. From alcohol to legal or illegal drug abuse as well. Veterans see this a numbing agent from the physical and mental pain they are in. It is at the time, but in the long run it just messes them up. (Beckham 2) Many of theses veterans smoke which is a stress reliever about fifty-eight percent of the combat soldiers smoke and eighteen percent of those are really heavy smoker. (Beckham 3) There where many things theses soldiers did to themselves because of the way they were conditioned to thing and what they experienced in the battle felid. The mind and psychological effects were the most damaging of …show more content…
Anything can get to them and when they are deployed back they are sometimes only a few days to a week removed from that battle felid and they get no time to let off steam or get some type of metal help. They are just put back in the society, normal life with their family. This messes with there mind a lot. (Dean 7) Many of these veterans had this American hero image in their mind which is understandable, but when they got back they had anything but that. This really messed up their minds because they had a bar set and is was not met by any means. (Dean 8) The negativity surrounding the veterans just shut them down completely from anything, family included because they had put it all out there for the mother land and they got little respect. They saw many friends die and didn’t get to see their family’s for long periods of time. (Dean 22,23) PTSD is known to just eat away at the mind like a parcite, not letting the person do anything at all. They can not have a normal life with a family. (Wilson 9) Just the way the mind thinks when diagnosed with PTSD is backwards and not with much sense sometimes. Compulsive reexposure is something not really talked about because the front is that everything is okay because the attempt to a normal life is shown. The way that works is the mind works in reverse like a veteran coming back feels the need to be in the swat or a woman got abused as
Two brothers, Lyman and Henry, had very little in common other than their blood. One day they decided to catch a ride to Winnipeg. The car was introduced while these two were doing some sightseeing in the city. They spotted the red Oldsmobile convertible. Lyman, the storyteller, almost made the car a living thing when he said, "There it was, parked, large as life. Really as if it were alive." (461) The brothers used all of the money they had, less some change for gas to get home, to buy the car. The car's significance was the bond that it created between the brothers. The purchase of the vehicle brought these two together with a common interest: the car. Once the bond was formed, the brothers became inseparable, at least for a while. The boys spent the whole summer in the car. They explored new places; met new people and furthered the bond that the car had created. When they returned from their trip, Henry was sent to war. He left the car with Lyman. While Henry was gone, Lyman spent his time pampering and fixing the car. Lyman saw the car as an extension of Henry. Lyman used the car to maintain an emotional bond with his brother who was thousands of miles away.
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
...who endures pain. His brother, Lyman, suffers from many of the same things as Henry. Lyman also experiences post-traumatic stress. Although Lyman seems to acknowledge this stress in a rather different way than Henry, it is there all the same. Just as Henry tries to give the red convertible up to his brother, Lyman does the same in the end, and pushes it right back to him. The red car represents a bond between the two brothers, and with Henry gone, Lyman can not bear to have it around anymore. Unfortunately, getting rid of the car does not take care of Lyman's pain. Even a long time after Henry's death, Lyman still experiences post-traumatic stress. Only now he has a tragedy of his own to endure.
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
The two characters come to the realization that they do share a brotherly bond, and that the narrator cares deeply for his brother even after all the time apart. The narrator says, “I don’t give a damn wh...
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.
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.
A Vietnam War veteran experienced many gruesome and horrifying events during their time of serving the army. Seeing such horrifying things affected their mental and emotional thinking “PTSD is defined as a re-experience of a traumatic event, for example, flashbacks. Anything can trigger a flashback a click, a movement, anything associated with the past event” (Cruz). Seeing such horrifying things affected their mental and emotional thinking. A soldier was told to forget what they saw and basically move on from it, but it only made it worse. Having everything “bottled up” makes it even harder to treat PTSD. U.S. soldiers had to live with the disorder on their own without any help. “The veterans experience combat related nightmares, anxiety, anger, depression, alcohol and/or drug dependency, all are symptoms of PTSD” (Begg). The symptoms occurred over long periods of time when that person has been in certain situations that he or she was not ready to be in. Some of these situations including the Vietnam veterans not feeling like their unit was together or united. “Soldiers were sent into replace other soldiers, which caused the other members of the group to make fun or haze them. The unit never developed as much loyalty to each other as they should have” (Paulson and Krippner). “Many of...
Henry and Lyman are two brothers which developed a nicely bond whey got the red convertible. The story is written in first person, we get to know about Lyman and his emotions than they do about Henry. But the author, Louise Erdrich, has tried to go farther and deeper feelings into the character of Henry by means of the red convertible. Throughout this story, the course of “The Red Convertible” becomes the life story of Henry and everything it represents is somehow affiliated with Henry and his changing condition. At the beginning when the two brothers saw the car “Really as if it was alive. I thought of the word repose, because the car wasn't simply stopped, parked, or whatever. That car reposed, calm and gleaming” (359). It can be see that this is a mental condition of Henry who is calm and happy is and delighted with this car.
Written in the first person by Lyman Larmartine, The Red Convertible follows a typical dramatic development. The story begins in with an introduction of the narrator's life. Almost simultaneously the reader is introduced to older brother Henry Junior and the shiny red Oldsmobile convertible they bought on the spur of the moment together. The rising action of the story begins when the two take off one summer on a road trip that ends them in Alaska. When they arrived home, it was conveniently just in time for Henry to be drafted for the army. Just months later in early 1970 Henry was fighting in the Vietnam War and Lyman was had the red convertible in his possession. More than three years later, Henry finally returned home three years later only to be a much different person than the one that had left. Henry was distant and lackadaisical for the most part, never really caring about anything. Lyman knew there had been only one thing in the past that really cheered him up, and would do whatever it would take to have Henry back to his old self. Lyman took a hammer to their prized possession one night and soon showed Henry the car. Henry then was angered by the way the car was treated and was soon spend all his days and nights consumed by repairing the car. The climax of the story begins when Henry finally finished refurbishing the car and posing in front of it with Lyman for one last picture followed by a trip to Red River like in the good old days. When they arrived at the river, Henry confessed that he had known what Lyman did to the Olds, and was thankful for it, then offered to give his portion of the car to him. Just when the reader believes the old Henry has come back to life, he dives into the river and is sucked down with the strong current.
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
Imagine living in despair after coming back home, dismayed from a war that got no appreciation. Robert Kroger once said in his quote, “The brave men and women, who serve their country and as a result, live constantly with the war inside them, exist in a world of chaos. But the turmoil they experience isn’t who they are, the PTSD invades their minds and bodies.” Eleven percent of Vietnam Veterans still suffer with symptoms of the terrifying disorder of PTSD (Handwerk). Vietnam Veterans struggle with the physiological effects of PTSD after war, which leads to despair and many deaths.
“We went places in that car, me and Henry. We took off one whole summer” (331). With the car in such good shape, Henry and Lyman were able to drive wherever they wanted with it. This is similar to the condition of the brothers relationship at that time. Towards the end of the summer, they began the journey home and returned to their normal lives. “We'd made most of the trip, that summer, without putting up the car hood at all” (332). The car remaining in good condition despite all the time that it was driven that summer is also a symbol of the brothers relationship. Even though Henry and Lyman spent so much time together, they did not get tired of each other or even have any arguments. Once they arrived back home, Henry soon left for training camp for the army and eventually was sent to Vietnam. After being caught by the enemy, Henry spent three years in Vietnam before being able to return home. During Henry's absence, Lyman spent nearly all of his time working on the car and making sure that it stayed in perfect condition. This symbolizes Lyman's attempt to keep he and his brothers relationship the same even though they were not
Post-Traumatic stress disorder is a psychiatric disorder that may develop after one has been a victim or witness of a traumatic event (What is PTSD). Men and women who served in the Vietnam War were vulnerable to many acts of violence and death such as guerilla warfare. After being discharged from the Armed Forces, they may experience flashbacks when a trigger brings back a memory or they may also suffer from nightmares or insomnia due to specific rattling experiences (Riley, Julie). Not being able to sleep can have some deteriorating effects on the body which can make life after war very hard to adjust to. The transfer of the Armed Forces back home life can be somewhat of a culture shock. However, anyone can develop PTSD. A person who has been a victim of abuse, an unexpected death/accident, or even a survivor of a natural disaster is at risk of being diagnosed with this disorder (Mental Health America). They may experience some symptoms of; depression, irritability, insomnia, flashbacks, they may complain of headaches or stomach pain, and may become reserved (Riley, Julie). These indicatio...
PTSD was such a horrible sickness because it embedded traumatic events in a soldiers mind. So later on this memory impeded a soldier enjoyment of life. Certain smell, sights and taste a soldier experienced triggered their memory making them recall those horrifying moments when their friend was brutally slaughtered. When these memories occurred soldiers would lose themselves. They would would break down and question themselves, ‘What could I have done to save him? Why did he die and not me? The guilt was so great that for many that they simply killed themselves. However, this was only one of the horrible effects of PTSD. Another