Summary Of The Red Convertible

Anna Douglass Rooker
Mr. Kris Robinson
EN 1113-23
4 April 2015
The Red Convertible: The Bond of Two Brothers The aftermath of war can effect even the brightest of souls. In the short story, The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich, the lives of two young Indian boys are portrayed through the symbolism of a red convertible, and how their relationship together is much like the first car that the boys purchased. During this short story, brothers Henry Jr. and Lyman experience the tough times of living on an Indian Reservation, and the tolls of what war can do to a person. The story is narrated by Lyman, the younger brother who has a knack for making money easily, and is sadden by the surprising state that his brother Henry is in when he returns

Henry and Lyman take the car out on a cross country road trip which symbolizes the changing mental state that the boys were in during that time in the story. During this point in the story the car represents the boys way of living as described in the story as “we just lived our everyday lives here to there” (453). The car symbolizes a hope of what the future might hold for the brothers. The mind that Henry has at the beginning of the story is carefree and unknown. This is shown when the speaker writes on how the brothers did not know where they were like when stated “we are somewhere in Montana or maybe the Blood Reserve” (453). The characters have no indication of their whereabouts, showing the audience that the car can take them anywhere so the possibilities are

This part in the story is where the connection between the car and Henry’s life is really shown to the audience by portraying what the car represents. The car is used as a tool to bring back Henry’s train of thought to how it was before he left for the war. When Lyman damages the convertible it symbolizes how the war damaged Henry. Lyman believes that by giving Henry the job of fixing the convertible it will somewhere spark a fire in Henry to come back to his old self. The speaker talks about how the brothers’ sister, Bonita, took a picture of the two boys by the car, which signifies one last moment of happiness that they shared before their last road trip together. The trip to the river allowed Lyman to experience the last bit of laughter that Henry contained in him, knowing that the war took everything from Henry as described when “then it broke, like stones break all of a sudden when water boils up inside them”