The Red Convertible: Examining Louise Erdrich's Tale of Family & Identity

Introduction

“The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich can be pigeonholed as a compelling tale. Erdrich interweaves the experience of America with the Chippewa heritage. In this story, she focuses on family and identity. In the literary analysis of the red convertible written by Erdrich, this paper displays its symbolism, irony, characterization, point of view, setting, and its theme.

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Theme

The theme of this Erdrich’s tale is “life robbed of joy feels meaningless,” as argued by Lu and Jing-bi ZHANG (20). The story focuses on the lives of two brothers, Henry and Lyman, whereby the older one, Henry, manages to join the military where his happiness is taken away. On returning home from war, Henry seems to be different from the past days. He cannot even enjoy their “red convertible car” as he used to before joining the military. He appears to be filled with sorrow, emotions, and distress generated by PTSD. Therefore, the theme of this tale revolves around the troubled mental change experienced by Henry due to his military career.

Setting

Erdrich’s tale narrates the lives of the two brothers and their lifestyle before Henry joining military forces. “The Red Convertible” takes place between the 1960s and 1970s. It starts during summertime, where Henry and Lyman are residing in Chippewa reservation. They both also dwell in Canada, Alaska, and many other states which they come across while having their road trips with their automobile. As the story goes by, as the older brother joins the marine, he is taken to Vietnam for a war where he spends a certain period before returning home. At the start of the story, Henry’s mood is joyful, but in the end, he emerges to be worrisome.

Plot

The story shows the relationship between Henry and his little brother Lyman who, at the beginning of the story experience, have minor conflicts. The inconsequential skirmishes include the blew of the Lyman’s Joliet Café in a tornado, the act of Henry joining the military and going for a war mission in Vietnam, and the failure of trusting Oldman Pillager. Despite these minor social struggles, the major clash is based on Henry’s change, which is witnessed upon his return home from the marine work. He was no longer talkative as before and seemed to be uncomfortable while sitting still anywhere. This change leads him to being suicidal, where he goes into a river and gets drowned, leading to his death. After trial and failure to save his brother, Lyman runs the automobile into the river.

Characterization

In characterization, Erdrich has a magnificent development of characters to align with their roles in the tale. In tis case, Henry is characterized by both joyful and sad qualities. He also has a high temper but with a sense of humor where he used to tell witticisms and little slangs prior Vietnam mission. The author portrays him to be dynamic through change and growth via the application of indirect characterization throughout the story. She depicts him as a ‘Brickhouse’ man who has a colossal and a sharp nose as Indians. However, after the war, his attributes changes, whereby his character of being funny and joyful is suppressed by worrisome, skittish, and quiet characteristics. In this case, Erdrich explains how the older brother would sit in his chair, muscularly clasping the armrests as if the chair was being steered at a higher speed.

On the Lyman characterization, Erdrich presents him with brotherly love and care. He treats Henry with tenderness. He is depicted as a careful person regarding his approach to Henry despite the dramatic transformation after the military war. Lyman reveals that he and his brother had been here for each other, but when he came back from war, he seems to be a loner. However, Lyman wishes to transform him from that state. When Henry goes into the water and drowns, Lyman, through his love and care for his brother, tries to save him from the river. The author displays the humanness of Henry throughout the narrative as he switches from being gratified and happy to excruciating misery he was having till his death.

Irony

Erdrich applies verbal irony throughout the tale. Henry uses verbal irony on a girl with long hair. In this scene, Henry spins the girl’s hair around his shoulder as he caustically banters that he has been wondering what one feels like on possessing long attractive hair. At the end of the story, Lyman calls him crazy, and in response, Henry utters, “That is correct! Crazier in hell, Crazy Indians!” Therefore, Erdrich uses verbal irony throughout “The Red Convertible” tale.

Symbolism

The red convertible is used as a symbol of life in this tale. Erdrich implies the automobile as alive, symbolizing the real-life of Henry. After he returns from the Vietnam war, he finds the car that is not in its tip-top state. When the vehicle is damaged, Henry tries to fix it, but it is all in vain. The failure of the car to get back to its old normal situation symbolizes the permanent change of life which Henry attains in Vietnam.

Point of view

Erdrich uses the first person as the point of view where the narrative is told through Lyman’s eyes. In this case, Lyman takes control of telling the story about his relationship with his brother. He uses his voice in lending a poignancy and immediacy. This point of view grants Erdrich the ability to express the patterns of speech of the modern Native-Americans.

Work Cited

LU, Xiu-hong, and Jing-bi ZHANG. “Effects of the Vietnam War on the existing situation of American Indians: Appreciation of the Red Convertible.” Journal of Hefei University of Technology (Social Sciences) 4 (2005): 20.