The Red Convertible Literary Analysis

At some point in people’s lives, one would have to experience something that would forever alter their lives in an instant. In some cases, it is the simple decision of joining the army. They go out to war, fight battles and make sacrifices that are too hard to imagine. Sometimes a people can have wars within themselves, wars within their minds. The effect of it on someone could be drastic. In this case, the short stories “The Things They Carried” and “The Red Convertible” both show different views of a soldier while in war and after. Through the use of symbolism and setting, O'Brien and Erdrich recreate the characteristics of the devastingly effect of war: O’Brien on the actual battlefield and Erdrich after a soldier’s return in country; though

In both short stories, the authors use the setting to show the psychological toll war takes on a person’s mental state. No matter when and where it takes place, it will always affect people differently. Usually when one comes back from war, the family expects the soldier to be more at peace with him or herself; he or she is finally done with the violence. That was not the case with Henry from “The Red Convertible.” He could not handle the emotional turmoil of what he experiences while in war. Just the fact of living on an Indian Reservation hinders Henry culturally. There are no doctors on the reservation and his family did not trust the hospital (Erdrich 420). Henry is a shadow of his old self, no longer a carefree person; just war burden. Baring his soul and letting others in on how he is doing doesn’t register through his mind. In an editorial by S. Davies, he notes how “traumatized individuals may be less willing to speak about their pasts.” (Davies 99). Some people may not seem to believe they would have the support that they may need when they have gone through a traumatic event and with Henry, it would seem that this is the case. Just as Henry is always on edge, O'Brien's soldiers in “The Things They

Some people do and say things that other people would not think twice about. They would not think that there is another meaning to what was said or done. In the short story “The Red Convertible” Henry never openly admits how he feels after coming back home. Though he is back from war, Henry still faces the emotional trauma of what he experienced while on duty. He unconsciously gives signs of the torment he is going through. In his case, Henry uses the car as a means of escape from his reality. He cannot handle his emotions so he spends his time focused on fixing the car to forget his time in war (Erdrich 420-421). Fixing the car, that once represented his relationship with his brother, is meant to be a way to get his old self back. While it works at first, distractions like that can only last for so long and with Henry, the pain was too much to handle. Beth Reese states how “avoiding treatment leads to persisting symptoms over time.” (Reece 39). In avoiding treating his suffering, Henry shows obvious signs in improving his mental state. His fragile mind could only take so much before he breaks completely. The same could be said about O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried.” There are so many double meanings, a person just has to dig a little deeper and look for them. There is nothing more fragile than a mind on a normal day, it is near destructive when death looms over their