Significance of Red Oldsmobile

The Impact of Red Oldsmobile in the Story

Introduction

The Red Convertible is a short story taken from “Love Medicine” which is a collection of narratives by Louise Erdrich came out in 1984. The plot is extremely emotional and highlights the trauma through which the whole family passes even if their one family member undergoes changes due to some war. The author has chosen the own setting and showed Lamartine family living on a reservation. The characters in the story are the Native American descents like the author's. The place shown in the story is Wahpeton, North Dakota. The story also covers the time of Vietnam War which affected the life style of the family gravely. The story has one main factor that took the leading role in the end i.e. a car. My essay will aim to explore the implications of this car in the story (Porter, 2007).

Discussion

The story takes place in 1974 near the reservation of Chippewa Native American in North Dakota. Lyman and Henry Lamartine are two brothers who have exceptionally joyous relationship between each other. Their youth was full adventures and happy moments when they experienced the world together. They went for road trips in their car. Lyman starts the story by describing what is death to him and what impact does it leave on close relations. The story does not brag any financial issues, yet, it acknowledges the sound financial status of the family when they got red car. The story changes when Henry got enlisted with the Vietnam War for which he had to leave his brother and other family member behind. This war proved to have a devastating impact on the relationship of the two brothers. Like it said by the sister of the brother (Bonita) that she could see Henry's face covered with holes when she clicked photography, on the other hand, Lyman face appeared as bright as the sun (Mooney et.at, 2007).

War Time

War began, and at that time government summoned so many men around the country to defend their pride in Vietnam. At war, the life style of Henry got completely changed. He usually got torn clothes and heavy boots to wear all the time. This change literally changed his habits down the road. He withdrew himself from the society including his family. When he came back from war it became immensely difficult for him to establish a connection with his family which included his brother. Once they both were necessity to each other, but later Henry began to drift away from his once beloved brother Lyman (Holm, 1996).

On the other hand, Lyman was enormously pleased with the come back of his brother Henry. However, soon he realized that it was not at all the same Henry. He tired to encourage Henry to behave in same old ways and recall what precious emotional bond they had shared once. The car in which they had a lot of memories was the center of their adventurous; memories like bad and good and hilarious ...