The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich Theme Analysis Essay Example

Why is it so hard to watch a loved one go through a major change, and how does that change affect others around them? Lyman Lamartine and his brother Henry own a red convertible and travel across the country together, seeing all the different cities and twins until Henry is drafted into the military, and Lyman is left alone. When Henry returns, Lyman soon realizes that Henry has changed because he no longer wants to do the things with Lyman that they used to do. Henry is also more quiet and restless, which leaves Lyman sad, and makes him feel like he has lost his best friend. The theme of “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich is that trauma can change the affect someone and the others around them. We see this with Lyman and Henry before Henry goes to war, when and while he is drafted, and once he has been home for a while.

First of all, the theme is revealed by the interactions between Henry and Lyman at the beginning of the story, before Henry is drafted into the military, and has to leave. Henry and Lyman are so close to one another, and they do everything together. This is revealed in the story when Henry and Lyman go traveling across the country, not caring about anything bad that may be happening; “We took off driving all one whole summer. We started off toward the Little Knife River and Mandoree in Fort Berthold and then we found ourselves down in Wakpala somehow, and then suddenly, we were over in Montana on the Rocky Boy and yet the summer was not even half over” (Erdrich 307). This shows that Lyman and Henry are always together and they do so many things and go to so maybe places in such a short amount of time, but still enough time to savor all the details. This also connects back to the theme because it states that Henry is always happy with Lyman. Following that, the places they traveled were unexpected but they did not care where it was. “We were somewhere in Montana, or maybe on the Blood reserve - it could have been anywhere… When we got up to Alaska, we never wanted to leave, the sun does not truly set… You never feel like you have to sleep hard, or put the world away” (Erdrich 308). This states that they wanted to stay forever no matter what came their way. It connects back to the theme because it shows that Henry was at peace and did not have to worry about anything. Henry and Lyman truly felt like they were in a perfect world, where nothing unexpected might come their way.

Secondly, Henry suddenly gets called into the military, and leaves Lyman behind which proves the theme. Henry had forgotten he signed up for the military, and when they got home, Henry left immediately, and left Lyman suddenly by himself. “Henry went off to training camp, came home one Christmas, then the next thing you know, we got an overseas letter from him” (Erdrich 309). This is indicating that Lyman if upset about his brother and does not know the next time they will be able to see each other, or if they will again. This connects back to the theme by showing that Henry has lost connection with Lyman and his family, and they cannot talk to each other. Therefore, Lyman finds out where Henry is stationed, and sent him many letters, but never got a response which Lyman thought might happen. “He was stationed up in the northern hill country… He was not a good letter writer… I wrote him back several times, even though I didn’t know if those letters were going to get through to him” (Erdrich 309). This shows that even though Henry was away, Lyman still cared about him, and wanted to know how he was doing. It connects back to the theme because Lyman knew that because of Henry being away, he was not going to respond, and he might never hear from his brother again. This was making Henry try even harder to contact his brother because he knew he wanted to hear from them. 

Last but not least, when Henry returns from the war, he has had a major change in his life from some traumatic event which is making his interactions with others different than before which proves the theme. As Henry was home, Lyman could tell something was off, that Henry was not the same. “When he came home, though, Henry was very different, and I’ll say this: the change was not good” (Erdrich 309). This shows that Lyman can see the changes in Henry’s actions and that they were not good changes. It connects back to the theme because after Henry returned from the war, He was acting very differently around everyone. In addition to this, Henry became restless and began pacing over and over. “He was always up moving around… then I got to leaving him alone most of the time. It was a fact: Henry was jumpy and mean” (Erdrich 310). This is indicating that something Henry faced while he was away was affecting his actions and making him relentless. This connects back to the theme because Henry had became mean, which made others not want to be around him because of the way he was around others. Henry’s family began leaving him alone too because they did not want to be treated poorly by him.

In conclusion, We saw that Henry had changed from before the military, while he was drafted, and once he was home, which all prove the theme that trauma can affect someone and others around them. Before the military, Henry and Lyman were together forever, no matter what. While he was stationed away, he became more quiet and never got to see his family. Once he was home, he became a completely different person than everyone was used to him being. Trauma can affect anyone's attitude or appearance they may have around others, so if someone is experiencing that, be by their side so they know someone cares.