Summary Of The Red Convertible By Louise Erdrich

Louise Edrich’s story “The Red Convertible” explores the idea of the American dream. The the use of symbolism of everyday objects she presents the ideals of the American dream which include but are not limited to the ideals: of freedom, social mobility, and the death of the American dream she paints a picture that any reader can understand. According to Kenneth Burk in his essay “Symbol and Association”: “What elements of the various context might add modification to the idea…All such inquires would directly concern not symbolism, but meanings as established inductively by the collating and comparing of contexts.” (Burke) (213). As such she presents the ideas of the American dream through symbolism each context of the symbolism adding a unique

He was built like a brick outhouse anyway. We liked to tease him that they really wanted him for his Indian nose.” (Erdrich) (311). The idea of Henry being selected for military service based on his physical stature and racial background: In her article “The Aesthetics Of Borders In Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine And Tracks." Rita Ferrari explores the idea of a submissive group being used based on their racial ethnicity “in representing a people, and their culture, who have been unrepresented or represented in manipulative ways in the service of a dominant group's ideology.” (Ferrari). The idea of Henry being selected by a more prestigious branch of the military shows that he was able to move up the social ladder not on the basis of skill or knowledge but on the basis of his skin color and the idea of his physical composition. The idea of social mobility is explored and addressed and proven in the by the work of Erdrich shows that social mobility in America is pre determined by ethnicity and ones physical

The act of letting the convertible roll into the river symbolizes the end or the death of the American dream: “I get out, close the door, and watch it plow softly into the water. The headlights reach in as they go down, searching, still lighted even after the water swirls over the back end… It is finally dark.” (Erdrich) (315). This symbolizes letting go of the American dream or the realization that the American dream is maybe just that, a dream. That is not obtainable by all but sought after by so many. The car rolling into the river and being lost in the murky dark depths symbolizes that once the American dream is cast aside it can never again be found, that it will be lost forever. Keeping the dream takes work, and like everything else in life there is a breaking point. Maybe Henry not being able to beat his post-traumatic stress was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Lyman. All that needs to be known is that the convertible going into the river symbolizes a loss of hope, and the death, or casting aside of the American dream and replacing it with a sense of loss and