Louise Erdrich received the wide critical acclaim of her literary works alongside with the popularity among ordinary readers. Her first novel Love Medicine, published in 1989, depicted the lives of the Native Americans of Chippewa tribe on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. The significance of the book is defined by the representation of the Indian traditional culture in the broader context of American culture and the contemporary historical events, and it is also characterized by its literary innovations. In this paper, one of the novel’s chapters, “The Red Convertible”, will be considered to analyze its main characters and their impact on the storytelling; also the literary analysis and the remarks on historical context will be given.
The Impact of the Historical Context on the Main Characters
Before dwelling upon the analysis of literary traits of the text, one should observe the historical background and circumstances. According to Bo (2016), Erdrich depicts “the living plight of Chippewa Indian throughout the novel, and indicates their living plights are mainly caused by deprivation of land, loss of culture and discrimination from the white society” (p. 1665). The events described in “Love Medicine” take place in North Dakota, which signifies the characters of the book as the descendants of the original Chippewa tribe. The Chippewa formed the fur-trading relationships with the European settlers, eventually adopted their lifestyle, and even asked the government to make a reservation for them, which is among very few examples. This historical background gives a proper context to the issues which are described in the novel: the land which is unfit for the cultivation, high unemployment rates, lack of education, widespread diseases and alcoholism.
Literary Analysis of the Characters’ Development
The primary objects of the research are the main characters of the chapter under analysis and their contribution to the development of the storytelling. “The Red Convertible” is a story of two brothers – Henry and Lyman Lamartine – which is told from Lyman’s point of view. This first-person narration is a significant feature of the text because it serves as the dominant means of exposing the development of the characters to the reader. Lyman creates a vivid portrait of his brother, and he also reveals his traits throughout the story. Henry is depicted as a very dynamic character, since “The Red Convertible” is devoted to the development of his personality. At the beginning of the story, he is reposed and calm, but due to his post-war trauma, his mental state declines. However, he struggles to retrieve the happiness that he had before, but he fails in this attempt, leading the story to its tragic finale.
It is possible to note the extreme importance of the narration from Lyman’s point of view. Not only it helps to reflect his emotional and sensitive nature, for example in the episode during the road trip with Henry: “I remember I lay under those trees and it was comfortable. So comfortable. The branches bent down all around me like a tent or a stable. And quiet, it was quiet” (Erdrich, 2009, p. 104-105). It is also used as a means to stress the significance of Henry’s death to the narrator. As Lyman remains forthright about his thoughts and feeling throughout the story, he only holds back from the reader as it comes to his perception of the loss of his brother. He describes the circumstances, in which the tragic finale takes place, but he does not reveal his emotional state, not during the depicted events nor after them. This sudden absence of Lyman’s openness in the text serves as an extremely potent literary device, which aims to convey the approximate level of emotional pain he is experiencing due to the loss of Henry.
Another literary device, which should be considered, is the use of symbols throughout the text since they play a significant role in story’s imagery. The primary and the most visible symbol to notice is the car, which given the chapter its title. The car symbolizes the unity and the deep connection between brothers, as they had bought it together, took a road trip in the summertime on it, they fixed it along. After Henry’s death, Lyman drowns the car in the river as it has no longer use for him without his brother. The concept of drowning also holds an essential place in the story. The death by drowning in Indian culture is a symbol of transition into the new life, which is why Stock (2016) observes that Henry’s death “has deep cultural significance” (p. 132). Moreover, the episode in which brothers throw beer cans in the river, is very symbolical, since the river represents the flow of life, which drags people under its current.
Conclusion
In “The Red Convertible”, the chapter from “Love Medicine” under analysis, one can trace some masterly applied literary devices. Firstly, it is the prevailing usage of the first-person narration, which helps to create very intimate storytelling, to provide the dynamic development of the characters and to involve the reader emotionally. Secondly, the symbolic structure of the text is vast and vivid, and it serves as a means to convey the complex ideas of the given literary work. Moreover, the applying of the Indian cultural context to “Love Medicine” provides a more profound understanding of the novel. In conclusion, one can observe the excellence of “The Red Convertible” as an example of an intricate literary work, which is accessible to a broad reading audience.
References
Bo, T. (2016). The plight of contemporary Native Americans in Love Medicine. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 6(8), 1665-1669.
Erdrich, L. (2009). The red convertible: Selected and new stories, 1978-2008. New York, NY: HarperLuxe.
Stock, R. (2016). Louise Erdrich’s place in American literature: Narrative innovation in Love Medicine. Prague Journal of English Studies, 5(1), 119-139.