Summary Of The Red Convertible By Louise Erdrich
Roseli Marti
Garcia, Arlene
TR 8:25-9:50 AM
26 March 2013
“The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich Separated by War The short story “The Red Convertible” is told by Lyman Lamartine, one of the two main characters in this short story and one of the many characters that are involved in the novels of “Love Medicine” by Louise Erdrich. That is why the story is symbolic because it is told from the point of view of a true Indian living in the North Dakota reservation. The story is set on a time period of war which reinforces the meaning of the story and the feeling of sorrow that Erdrich was trying to enforce on its readers. …show more content…
“He has his field jacket on and the worn-in clothes he’d come back in and kept wearing ever since”(Erdrich 372), represents how war changed him, the depression that the war brought to him made him change the way he was to the point that he did not even dress the same way anymore. At this same time Erdrich uses a photograph to compare Henry and Lyman, “My face is right out in the sun big and round” (Erdrich 372) which he uses to demonstrate just how peaceful Lyman’s face is. “But he might have drawn back, because the shadows on his face are deep as holes. There are two shadows curved like little hooks around the ends of his smile, as if to frame it and try to keep it there- that one, first smile that looked like it might have hurt his face” (Erdrich 372) described how depressed Henry looked and the emotional problems that war had implanted in him. While Lyman’s calm face represents someone who has not been through the struggles of war, Henry’s face represents the sorrow and pain that war brings into a person’s life. By doing this Erdrich once more lets us see just how far apart and different the two brother are from one another and that the cause of this separation between the two of them is ultimately war and the horrifying events that Henry had to go
Garcia, Arlene
TR 8:25-9:50 AM
26 March 2013
“The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich Separated by War The short story “The Red Convertible” is told by Lyman Lamartine, one of the two main characters in this short story and one of the many characters that are involved in the novels of “Love Medicine” by Louise Erdrich. That is why the story is symbolic because it is told from the point of view of a true Indian living in the North Dakota reservation. The story is set on a time period of war which reinforces the meaning of the story and the feeling of sorrow that Erdrich was trying to enforce on its readers. …show more content…
“He has his field jacket on and the worn-in clothes he’d come back in and kept wearing ever since”(Erdrich 372), represents how war changed him, the depression that the war brought to him made him change the way he was to the point that he did not even dress the same way anymore. At this same time Erdrich uses a photograph to compare Henry and Lyman, “My face is right out in the sun big and round” (Erdrich 372) which he uses to demonstrate just how peaceful Lyman’s face is. “But he might have drawn back, because the shadows on his face are deep as holes. There are two shadows curved like little hooks around the ends of his smile, as if to frame it and try to keep it there- that one, first smile that looked like it might have hurt his face” (Erdrich 372) described how depressed Henry looked and the emotional problems that war had implanted in him. While Lyman’s calm face represents someone who has not been through the struggles of war, Henry’s face represents the sorrow and pain that war brings into a person’s life. By doing this Erdrich once more lets us see just how far apart and different the two brother are from one another and that the cause of this separation between the two of them is ultimately war and the horrifying events that Henry had to go