The Red Convertible Symbolism
Literary critic Marvin Magalaner has stated that in Louise Erdrich'sLove Medicine, "water is the all-pervasive symbolic link with the past [...] and with the natural environment," whereas "the unnatural present is epitomized by the automobile" (101). But in the chapter of Love Medicine entitled "The Red Convertible"--a chapter often anthologized separately as a short story--just the opposite is the case: The automobile is associated with a more natural state of affairs--farther in the past, whereas water is associated with unnatural times much closer to the present. The chapter is organized around its closing paragraph, in which a red convertible is swallowed up by the Red River. This closing image symbolically restates what has happened to Henry Lamartine, both individually and in his relationship Throughout the chapter, Erdrich associates the red convertible with Henry's state of mind. The first time the convertible is mentioned, it is personified. Lyman, the story's narrator, says that when he and Henry first saw the car, it looked "really is if it was alive" (144). But the car isn't portrayed as having merely human traits; it is portrayed as having what at first are Henry's traits. L
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1232
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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