Loss of Innocence Theme Analysis

In “The Red Convertible,” brothers Henry and Lyman both lose their childhood innocence as they face the realities of adulthood. Henry is thrust into a war full of unimaginable horrors that change the way he thinks and acts. Meanwhile, Lyman is forced to deal with losing his brother not once but twice—first when Henry returns from war a changed man, and then later when he drowns in the river. Throughout the story, Erdrich depicts loss of innocence as an inevitable part of growing up, and she shows that trying to deny or forestall loss of innocence is foolish and can even lead to catastrophe.

At the beginning of the story, Henry and Lyman travel all over North America seemingly without a care in the world. Their easy freedom and youthful innocence are symbolized by their red convertible, a beautiful and rare car which they amicably share, going on reckless adventures without much concern over spending all their money or putting themselves in danger. Particularly in the scene where they meet Susy, a girl with surrealistically long hair, they seem free, young, and happy—a condition that they seem to believe might last forever. However, their denial of the reality of aging is clear in the way they treat the car. They travel all over the continent “without putting up the car hood at all” (in other words, they do no maintenance, choosing to believe that the car will run perfectly in spite of their extensive travels). In fact, their youthful behavior does catch up to them and come to an end—when they return home, Henry is drafted into the Vietnam war and Lyman finds that the car is in poor condition because, of course, “the long trip did a hard job on it under the hood.”

This moment marks the beginning of both brothers’ loss of innocence, although Henry’s is much quicker and more extreme, as he loses his youth through the violence and trauma of war. While going to war is supposedly a way of “becoming a man,” Erdrich makes a distinction between loss of innocence and becoming a mature adult. Henry’s traumatic experience of being captured and held by the enemy does erase his sense of freedom and childhood innocence, but it does not glorify him or make him a more capable adult. Instead, Henry returns home without any of his old charm, without ambition or passion, and with his mental health in shambles. Instead of traveling or working, he spends his time nervously watching television, which is hardly the behavior of a well-adjusted adult. Notably, when Henry returns, he has no interest in his once-beloved convertible—the innocence and freedom it represents have no meaning to Henry anymore. Tragically, though, this lost innocence hasn’t been replaced by maturity. Instead of moving on to the next stage of his life, he simply seems broken.

While Henry has lost innocence without gaining maturity, Lyman is still in denial that his youth is fading at all. After his brother leaves for war and gifts him the convertible, Lyman still insists that the car belongs to Henry (even though, symbolically speaking, the car can no longer belong to Henry since its innocence has no place in Henry’s wartime world). While Henry is gone, Lyman fixes up the car and obsessively maintains it, as though he is fighting his own aging process, trying to return himself, his brother, and their car to their childhood innocence. However, when Henry returns home and shows no interest in the car, Lyman loses a little of his innocence, too—he and his mother become responsible for looking after Henry, strategizing together about how to get him medical care despite the limited resources on the reservation.

Lyman’s loss of innocence is most apparent when he takes a hammer to the car in order to trick Henry into fixing it up, thereby giving his older brother a purpose. While destroying a symbol of innocence (particularly in an attempt to surreptitiously help his older brother) seems like an acknowledgement of growing older, Lyman actually thinks he can return them both to their carefree childhood if he can only reignite Henry’s passion for the car. While this seems initially to work, of course it fails—their ride in the car and their raucous interactions at the river seem like they might portend a return to innocence, but they actually set the stage for Henry’s subsequent drowning, which is perhaps even a suicide. Lyman’s inability to acknowledge the reality of growing up leaves him unable to accept Henry on his own terms until the final scene, where Lyman pushes the car into the river after Henry has drowned, seemingly acknowledging that his childhood is irrevocably over. Though loss of innocence is natural, the way it occurs for Henry and, by extension, for his family, is brutal, harsh, and unnecessary. Erdrich doesn’t provide a model for what healthy loss of innocence would look like, but presumably its primary fuel wouldn’t be trauma.