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Example research essay topic: Red Convertible Color Red - 1,340 words

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The short story by Louise Erdrich The Red Convertible contains so many symbols that upon first reading it you might miss them. By studying a little about the beliefs of the Chippewa people though you are able to pull a few of the symbols out of the story. At first glance you see that it is a story about the relationship between the two main characters who are brothers living on a reservation in North Dakota. The brothers names are Henry and Lyman.

Lyman says something odd in only the first paragraph "I owned that car along with my brother Henry Junior. We owned it together until his boots filled with water on a windy night and he bought out my share (455). This showed us that there is something we dont know about which will be explained later. Things start off well for the boys as we hear of Lyman's good luck and hard work. He is the owner of a restaurant at a very young age and then a disaster happens and it is blown over in a tornado.

We are told of the differences in the two brothers Henry was the stronger (physically) brother, the one built like a brick outhouse was never lucky enough to have anything positive to come from his strengths (458). Henry embodies the negative color associations from the brick house or red house and in many ways throughout the story he is associated with the color red. From the beginning, we see Lyman as the lucky one, the one who could always make money. I had a touch for it" (456).

He was filled with passion for money and was characteristically strong meaning that he kept going even after something would get in his way like the disaster with his restaurant. The way Lyman speaks of his luck it made me believe that he must have some positive energy flowing through him. Why else would he have been "the only kid they let in the American Legion Hall" (456)? But as Lyman tells us he has good luck because he got insurance money to replace his restaurant we wonder why doesnt he do that. Instead of using the money to rebuild on an impulse he and his brother purchase a red convertible, which seems to bring a change to their lives. It was It was red, a red Olds (455) and they are mesmerized.

Henry had been laid off from his job at this point and Lyman lost his business so there is no mention again of the brothers working that summer. They start off on their summer adventures and Lyman tells us he doesnt remember everything about their trips but he does remember the "place with the willows", his description makes it easy to envision yourself there. "The branches bent down all around me like a tent or a stable (457). The trip is described beautifully and we feel how much they enjoyed it. Whether it was on their cross-country excursion or springtime on the reservation, whenever it was just Lyman, Henry and the red Olds, there were "flowers and long grass" (457) and "the air was not too still, not too windy either (457).

We feel as though the brothers are headed off to something wonderful and free when they are together. The color red, in this part of the story, represents Henry's desire to be free from what he knows is coming. It helps to understand the story to learn that in the culture of the Chippewa red is the color of faith, and represents communication so maybe it was Henrys way of having faith that all would be okay as he left for the war and was the communication between the two brothers. The car could be said to have been the way that the two brothers communicated as they headed off to see new places in that red convertible and enjoyed the last few weeks that Henry would have to be free before leaving. This wanderlust was also something that reminds us of the nomadic existence of the Chippewa people. The boys meet a girl named Susy at a place that Lyman thinks may have been in Montana or maybe on the Blood Reserve (457).

Here we have another reference to the color red; which in our culture can mean danger so you are drawn to think about the possibility that there may be danger in the future. They offer to give her a ride home and are told she lives in Chicken, Alaska; so without a thought they drive to Alaska and enjoy the summer with her family living in a tent beside their home. This is another example of their behavior symbolizing the nomadic lifestyle. It is clear that Susy, although a minor character in the story, has a big impact on Henry and his free-spirited ness, and the idea that he meets her at this red location may be symbolic of what is to come. Henry obviously likes Susy and as the boys admire her long hair Henry went up to her and asked her to jump on his shoulders. She did that, and her hair reached down past his waist, and he started twirling, this way and that, so her hair was flung out from side to side (458).

Susy's hair is black and black stands for death in their culture and ours and it reminded me of the way the braves of old had long straight black hair when thinking of how Susy's hair fell around Henry. Henry let her hair fall down around him, which may be foreshadowing of things to come because it could symbolize that death was to come. The boys head back home with winter nipping at their heals all the way and arrive just in time for Henry to be drafted into the army. In the Chippewa culture summer is a time of plenty and white for peace, happiness & serenity but autumn is the color black which represents death because autumn is the final harvest; the end of life's cycle. This would make sense then that they head home at this time because it is the death of their good times, as Henry must leave.

Another thing that struck me was that we can take this to the extent that the car represents Henry so the fact that they never did one thing to take care of the car along the way should be pointed out, just as Henry is not preparing himself for what is to come. Henry finally returned home three years later only to be a much different person from the one who had left. He had spent time as a prisoner of war and this should be taken into consideration. He didnt interact with Lyman or his mother and was very jumpy and moody. As we know, prisoners of war were tortured during that war which would account for all of his actions but his family didnt understand this. The use of the color red does not end here.

The communists who are always symbolized as red tortured him. When we take a look at parts of the setting, we see the color used over and over again. Lyman and his mother talked of what to do to help Henry. His mother said of the option to put Henry in a hospital they dont fix them in those places (460). It is almost as though she is referring to a thing when she refers to fixing him like an old car or something. After this next thing happened Lyman knew he must do something.

Lyman tells us "once I was in the room watching TV with Henry I looked over, and hed bitten through his lip. Blood was going down his chin (459). When Lyman got up to go to help he was pushed out of the way. This depiction is important because not only does it show Henrys misdirected aggression, but involves another way that red is used as a symb...


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Research essay sample on Red Convertible Color Red

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