Previous
Summary
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Red Convertible, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Loss of Innocence
The Trauma of War
Masculinity and Silence
American and American Indian Identity
Summary
Analysis
Lyman recalls that he was the first person to drive a convertible on his reservation, a red Oldsmobile. He and his brother Henry owned it together, until Henry’s “boots filled with water on a windy night” and he “bought out” Lyman’s share.
Early on, Lyman establishes that he lives on a reservation, which implies that he is probably Native American. Like most reservations, it is not wealthy – note that Lyman is not just the first person to own a convertible, but the first person to ever drive one. He also leaves ambiguous what exactly happens to Henry. “Boots filled with water” is an ominous and mysterious phrase—If something bad happened to Henry, why would he continue to own the car, and why would Lyman give it up? This mystery is a hook into the story, but it also reflects the silence around Henry’s struggle.
Active
Themes
Lyman has always had an easy time making money, which he claims is “unusual in a Chippewa.” He shined shoes and sold bouquets as a kid. When he was fifteen, he got a job washing dishes at the Joliet Café, which he eventually came to own. The café was destroyed in a tornado, but before that happened, he bought the convertible with Henry.
Here, Lyman makes it clear that he is Native American, and admits that his relative wealth is unusual. This characteristic is important, as it shapes Lyman’s experience and the arc of the story. His ability to make money with ease allows him to buy the convertible and gives him and his brother their freedom for a long time.
Active
Themes
Henry and Lyman are in Winnipeg when they stumble upon the convertible, which seems almost larger than life, and they decide to buy it. One summer, they travel all over the Great Plains, into Canada, even up to Alaska in the car without a care in the world. According to Lyman, they don’t “hang on to details” when they travel: those would just be bothersome. They pick up a young hitchhiker named Susy from Alaska, with whom they stay for a season, in a tent outside her family’s house.
One night, Susy comes to see them. “You never seen my hair,” she says, and she takes her hair down to reveal that it reaches all the way to the ground. Henry picks her up on his shoulders and twirls her around so her hair sways from side to side. “I always wondered what it was like to have long pretty hair,” he says.
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Henry and Lyman head home, and before long Henry is drafted into the Vietnam War as a Marine. Lyman suspects that Henry’s regiment wanted him because he looks so tough, like the Native American warrior Red Tomahawk. He doesn’t write many letters home, and is for a period captured by the enemy. Meanwhile, Lyman writes him lots of letters and keeps the convertible in top shape for him. He considers himself lucky that he did not get drafted, and acknowledges that Henry was never lucky like he was.
When Henry comes home, he is very different. He can no longer sit still, he hardly ever laughs, and he never makes jokes like he did before. He even has no interest in the convertible. Because of this, others mostly leave Henry alone, and he spends long stretches of time watching the color TV that Lyman bought for the family, gripping the armrests of his chair tightly. One day, he bites through his lip while watching, and blood drips down his chin. Lyman tries to turn off the TV, but Henry stops him by shoving him out of the way. Eventually their mother comes in and turns off the TV. They sit down and eat dinner with Henry’s blood still trickling down his chin, mixing with his food.
Lyman and his mother think about what to do for Henry. There is only one doctor nearby, a non-Indian doctor that used to court their mother, whom they fear might take revenge on Henry for Lulu’s rejection of him. They also fear that if they take him to a “regular hospital” they may never see him again, or he might become a drugged-out zombie instead of receiving actual treatment, which puts them at an impasse. They also acknowledge it is unlikely that Henry would agree to go to a hospital.
Henry has shown no interest in the convertible since he got home from the war, but Lyman decides that the car might bring “the old Henry back.” He waits till Henry is gone one night and takes a hammer to it, destroying the car as best he can. Over a month later, Henry confronts Lyman about the state of the car, and Lyman goads him into fixing the car himself. Henry spends weeks at it, day and night. He hardly ever watches their TV, and is somewhat better than he was before, not as jumpy. By the time he’s done, the car is as good as new. One day, Henry suggests that they take the car for a ride. Encouraged by Henry’s sudden interest in taking the car out like old times, Lyman agrees.
Active
Themes
Their sister Bonita makes them pose for a photograph with the car before they go. Lyman recalls the picture, which he kept on the wall for a long time until one night he realized how much it tormented him. Slightly drunk and high, he suddenly saw clearly in the photo how haunted Henry was, with his shadowed eyes and forced, painful smile. His friend Ray helped him bag the picture and hide it in a closet, but he still remembers the stark difference in their faces every time he passes the closet.
After they take the picture, they take a full cooler and make the trip to the Red River, because Henry wants to see the high water. The trip is beautiful and relaxing, and Lyman thinks Henry seems unusually calm and happy. They build a fire and Henry falls asleep, but Lyman becomes anxious and wakes him up. They start talking and Henry reveals that he knew what Lyman was doing by intentionally damaging the convertible. He wants Lyman to have the car all to himself, but Lyman refuses, and they argue back and forth until they start roughhousing. They hit each other too hard, drawing blood, and finally they stop, agreeing that Lyman will have the car. Both still in pain, they open beers and drink them all, making each other laugh.
Something has changed in the air, and Lyman suggests they go back, maybe try to pick up some girls. Henry, his mood shifted for the worse, complains that all the girls “up here” are crazy. Lyman jokes back that he, too, is crazy—that they all are crazy—trying to rile him up, hoping to keep having fun. Henry frowns at first, but plays along, shouting, “Crazy Indians!” and jumping around, drunk and rambunctious as before. Lyman cracks up, and suddenly Henry shouts, “Got to cool me off!” and jumps in the river.
The river is high and the current is strong. It’s getting dark, and Lyman sees that the current has already carried Henry much too far. “My boots are filling,” he says placidly, and then he’s gone. Lyman goes in the river after him, but it is too late. Devastated, Lyman pushes the red convertible into the river to join him.
