One of the reasons why Louise Erdrich’s story The Red Convertible is being commonly referred to, as such that represents a high literary value, is that the themes and motifs, explored in it, are thoroughly humanistic. That is, they do emphasize the counter-beneficiary effects of people striving to attain a social prominence in the society, where one’s possession of the strongly defined sense of self-identity is rarely tolerated – especially, if it is being concerned with these people’s visually and behaviorally observed cultural ‘otherness’.
In this paper, I will strive to substantiate the validity of the earlier suggestion at length. The plot of The Red Convertible is straightforward. It revolves around the story of a relationship between two brothers of the Native-American descent – Henry and Lyman. The red convertible, owned by both brothers, symbolizes the subtleties of this relationship.
Before Henry joined the U.S. Army and consequently ended up being sent to serve in Vietnam, he and his brother used to enjoy taking their car for rides. However, after Henry returned back, he was no longer in a position to appreciate his shared ownership of the red convertible – his wartime experiences in this country, caused Henry to become an altogether different man: “When he came home, though, Henry was very different… Henry was jumpy and mean” (Erdrich 6).
Despite the fact that, after having reunited with Henry, Lyman never ceased trying to bring his brother ‘back to life’ (in the allegorical sense of this word), such as by the mean of prompting Henry to take an interest in the red convertible, Lyman’s effort, in this respect, proved in vain. The story ends with Henry drowning in the river, followed by Lyman pushing the red convertible into the river, as well – as an emotional gesture of denying the fact that Henry’s experiences in Vietnam did affect his true-self.
The above provided brief outline of the story’s plot contains a number of implicit suggestions, as to what can be considered the symbolical significance of the red convertible in Erdrich’s story. First, the transformation of the car’s condition, throughout the story, emphasizes the transformation of a relationship between Lyman and Henry.
Whereas, before Henry’s departure to Vietnam, both brothers never ceased striving to keep their car in tip-top shape, after Henry’s return this was no longer the case. In fact, Lyman deliberately ‘crippled’ the red convertible with a hammer, so that it would prompt Henry to consider fixing the car and consequently – to regain his pre-Vietnam identity of a cheerful and worriless individual.
This, however, did not have any effect on Henry, except for the fact that he simply became mad at Lyman: “(Henry): That car’s a classic! But you went and ran the piss right put of it, Lyman, and you know it don’t deserve that” (7). Apparently, the author wanted to emphasize the notion of self-identity, as something socially rather than biologically constructed.
It is namely due to Henry’s exposure to the horrors of war in Vietnam that, upon his return back home, he could no longer relate to his former self, which in turn prevented Henry from being able to enjoy the relationship with Lyman in the way he used to, prior to having served as an active duty soldier.
Second, the red convertible in Erdrich’s story symbolizes the counter-beneficiary essence of the process of Native-Americans affiliating themselves with Western existential values. After all, it is namely due to White people’s endowment with the so-called ‘Faustian’ mentality, which seeks to dominate nature, that they were able to invent an internal combustion engine, in the first place – at the expense of becoming spiritually detached from the surrounding natural environment (Greenwood 53).
Therefore, Henry and Lyman’s decision to purchase the red convertible can be well discussed, as such that reflected the fact that, despite their Native-American background, both brothers were emotionally comfortable with trying to integrate into the euro-centric society, as its integral parts. It can even be suggested that the car’s very color (red) symbolizes that Henry and Lyman did succeed in such their undertaking, to an extent.
After all, it does not represent much of a secret that, along with having been referred to as ‘Indians’ in the past, Native-Americans also used to be referred to as ‘Reds’. Therefore, in regards to both brothers, their ownership of the red convertible reflected their endowment with the ‘hybrid’ mentality of spiritually disfranchised Native-Americans – those who, despite appearing ‘red’ on the outside, are in fact ‘white’ on the inside, but who nevertheless strive to become ‘red’ on the inside, as well
. The irony lies in the fact that, while longing to revive their Native identity, Henry and Lyman relied on the red convertible – the by-product of the ‘Faustian’ nonspiritual/mechanistic genius. As Dutta noted: “The red convertible, although extremely Western in its resonance, is the only native link between Lyman and Henry. It was in this car that he toured his native land, felt the breeze, drank the water, smelt the soil” (121).
However, as The Red Convertible implies, Native people’s strive to adjust to the realities of a modern living in America, while accepting them uncritically, rarely proves beneficial in the long run. This is because, the price that Native people often have to pay, in exchange for being allowed to integrate into the society, is the abandonment of their cultural and spiritual traditions, which in turn causes them to end up being emotionally defenseless, while faced with life-challenges – hence, naturally making them prone to the thoughts of a suicide.
Therefore, it will not be much of an exaggeration, on our part, to suggest that in her story, Erdrich promotes the subtle idea that, even though that Henry and Lyman did initially enjoy owning their red convertible, the automobile in question was the actual reason behind Henry’s ultimate demise. Hence, another aspect of the symbolic significance of the Lyman’s decision to sink the red convertible – by doing it, he expressed his unconscious disagreement with the process of Native-Americans being required to assimilate within the euro-centric society, as the pathway to happiness, on their part.
Even though that Erdrich’s story takes place during the course of the seventies (the story’s context implies it), there can be very few doubts as to its discursive relevance, in regards to the realities of a contemporary living in America. After all, even today many Native-Americans often end up being subjected to the different forms of a subtle discrimination, on the account of their ‘otherness’.
While trying to lessen the acuteness of their negative experiences, in this respect, many Natives choose in favor of distancing from their cultural heritage further and further. Yet, as The Red Convertible implies, such their decision is potentially capable of causing them a great deal of harm, especially when their emotional well-being is concerned. This once again highlights the sheer objectiveness of the story’s discursive value. I believe that this conclusion fully correlates with the paper’s initial thesis.
Works Cited
Dutta, Pratima. “Erdrich’s The Red Convertible.” Explicator 61.2 (2003): 119-121. Print.
Erdrich, Louise 1984, The Red Convertible. PDF file. Web.
Greenwood, Susan. Anthropology of Magic, Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2009. Print.