The Use of Color in The Red Convertible Essay

In todays world, red is a very hot color. It relates to fire, violence, and warfare. It is also used to represent love and passion. I believe that colors have different meanings depending where you are from. For example, in China the color red is the color of prosperity and happiness. It is also used as a good luck color. In other cultures, in weddings instead of wearing white, they wear red. In the Native American culture, the color red is a color of faith, and it also shows communication. In the story "The Red Convertible," its more than just a story of two brothers who grew up together in the state of North Dakota. In this story, Louise uses symbol, imaginatoin, metaphor, and easy writing stye to allow us to read and understand the story, but in the same time have to chance to look deeper into the story.

In The Red Convertible author begins by talking and introducing Lyman. Later on into the story we are introduced to Lymans older brother Henry and the shiny convertible that they bought together. Later on in the story Henry and Lyman take a road trip one summer and end up in Alaska. By the end of the summer they arrive home just in time for Henry to get drafted to the army. While Henry was gone fighting in the Vietnam War Lyan had the red convertible in his possession. After 3 years of fighting in the war Herny returns home a much different person than when he left. Henry became more lazy and by the most part more distant and not caring at all. Lyman wanted the old Henry back, he tried multiple things that used to make happy, nothing worked. Later, Lyman knew that there was only one thing that really cheered him up, so he has determined to do whatever it takes to have Henry back to his old self. Lyman did the unthinkable, he took a hammer and smashed the red convertible and left there for Henry to find. Henry was upset on how the car was treated while he was gone, so he spend a few days and night repairing the car. After putting hard work fixing the car, Henry and Lyman take a trip to the Red River like they used to. Once they got there, Henry tells Lyman that he knows that what happened to the car was no accident, he knows that Lyman purposly damaged it and was thankful for it. Just when Lyman believes that the old Henry was back, Henry dives into a river and is taken by the strong current. Lyman realizes that Herny is gone, so he puts the car in neutral and lets it drive through the current behind Herny.

Like we said in the beginning, color has different meanings in different cultures and in this story Louis used the color red for the readers to find some relaionship with the color. For example, in the United States the color red has different meanings. The first postivive meanings that the color red represents is passion, strenght, love and energy. We can see this concepts throughout the story usually with Lyman. In the introduction of the story, we can see that Lyman is the lucky one the one who had "good luck with numbers." He had passion for money and was stronger than Herny. When somone speaks with confidence, we all believe that some sort of positive energy must be flowing trhough him. Just like Lyman, or else why would he have been "the only kid they let in the American Legion Hall"?

Second, the color red also have negative meanings and we are able to see throughout the story. Negative meanings of red include blood, aggression, danger and war. The story went from being a happy story by bringing two brothers together and having the summer of their life time to a sad story having Henry go off to war. Henry was "built like a brick outhouse," he was the strongest physically but could never get anything good out from it. All the negative meanings of the color red is best seen with Henry. After coming home from war, we could see Henry's unnatrual behavior, like the incident with the colored TV. Lyman says "once i was in the room watching TV with Henry i looked over, and he'd bitten through his lip. Blood was giong down his chin". This is important because it involves the color red and we can see Henrys aggression. "There was still blood giong down Henry's chin, but he didn't notice", we can see that the color red used to make him happy but now it has become something that Henry doesn't even notice.

Louise not only uses the color red but her use of imagination that makes the reader feel like their part of the story is important too. Lyman realized that he didn't really "hang on to the details" of the road but when he does remember the "place with the willows", we can almost putourselves like if we are actually there. Louise style helps make every little detail stand out more in this short story. After reading the first paragraph of the story, the we can see an explanation is needed, but may not really see the foreshadowing that is presented right up front. Lyman talks about his convertible, and says "I owned that car along with my brother Henry Junior. We owned it together until is boots filled with water on a windy night and he bought out my share." Since these are only the 3rd and 4th lines of the story, it is only clear that this car of which Lyman speaks is from where the title comes. It is not again until the last three paragraphs that this introduction makes sense. Henry's last words were "My boots are filling," and this just shows how clearly Lyman remembers this moment, unlike his patchy memories of the summer trip. Then, finally in the last paragraph, the rest of the introduction is explained when Lyman lets their red car roll into the water behind Henry. This event, all though tragic, was necessary for any form of life to go on normally for Lyman. Like we mentioned in the beginning, he was the lucky one.

In The Red Convertible the reader is shown the digression of the relationship between two brothers with no care in the world, and the connection that the co-owned red Oldsmobile provided them. Erdrich's dialogue and plot wants the reader to not see how much of an unreliable narrator Lyman might be, but to focus on the themes of the story. The significance of the imagery, characterization, setting, and structure was great, and helped provide true meaning to the story, but the color analysis provided something much more profound. If any other color had been chosen for that car, there might not me a deeper meaning, but Erdrich's decision to use red makes this story much more complex than the style would lead the first time reader to believe.