The Effects of War Shown in Louise Erdrich's The Red Convertible

While they were on the road where Lyman said could have been anywhere, they encounter a girl named Susy who needed a ride to her home in Alaska. Once they got there, Henry and Lyman were welcomed with opened arms. "We got up there and never wanted to leave... Her family really took to us. They fed us and put us up" (Erdrich 2). Henry seemed to be liked in all the interactions he has with other people. His social skills were great, and he acted no different from other normal people, so he had no reasons to be considered an outsider. His personality was playful and careless, as evident from all the driving around without knowing where they were going. Henry plays around with Susy and seemed to have formed a good relationship with her very quickly. She even seemed bummed out when Henry and Lyman had to leave. Susy states "I told her it was time for us to go. She stood up on a chair. 'You never seen my hair'" (Erdrich 3). Henry was a very easy guy to get along with we don't

Then according to the narrator Lyman, “Henry did something funny” (Erdrich 3). Henry said, “Jump on my shoulders” (Erdrich 3) and proceeded to twirl around with Susy on his back. He then said, “I always wanted to have long pretty hair” (Erdrich 3).

First, one should focus on the language and Henry's ethos. The soldiers are burdened with the thought of a

Lyman explains, “When he came home, though, Henry was very different, and I’ll say this: the change was no good” (Erdrich 129). The change Henry goes through is not for the better, the war made him vulnerable and he kept playing his experiences through his head over and over again. One can see that this change was no good for him or Lyman because Lyman was affected by it too.

One example is during the dance, when Henry and Rafas, a member of the Downey Gang, get into a fight, Henry eventually gains the upper hand and Rafas is at his mercy, however, instead of harming him, Henry just tells him to leave. Then, Bertha, Henry’s old girlfriend says “The old Hank would have slit Rafas’ belly like a fat pig.” (Valdez 47). This shows that Henry used to be much more ruthless than he was in the play. This is because he realizes that any violence that he does, no matter how small, will come up again, and could stop him from joining the military or from getting a decent job after the war. Because he realized this, he began to think about what effect his actions may have on his future. Another example is when Henry decided to back out of the appeal (Valdez 70). Instead of fighting the racist and corrupt justice system that put him in jail, Henry thought that, by accepting the punishment, he would be viewed as more American, and perhaps he would get out of jail early for good behavior. When Henry decided that he was going to join the navy he was thinking about his future as well. In the play Henry says, “I was all set to come back a hero, see? Me la rayo. For the first time in my life I really thought Hank Reyna was going someplace.” (Valdez 30). Henry knew that the only way he could gain respect from the police and the white Americans was by

He was now a more courageous man from that point on. He saw his wound as a fact that he survived the shot, and he believes that he can survive what comes his way instead of running. When he ran back into battle one his friends had been killed. The man killed was the flag bearer. Instead of running in fear he pried the flag from his hands and ran into the heat of battle. Henry did not think about the possibility of himself being the one that could die. He decided to fight for his own honor. Henry grew there his experience n the Civil War because of things like his red badge of courage.

Henry demonstrated his use of Pathos by demonstrating how much of a threat Britain can pose for the U.S. He mentioned the “gentlemen” still lament for peace, but warns the audience to be vigilant by telling us “Our brethren are already in the field!” and “The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms!” Henry also bashes the people who were oblivious to the impending war by telling of how the British already taunted them of being weak and “unable to cope with so formidable an adversary”. Another Pathos acknowledgement

As he is walking, a few soldiers that seems to be fleeing run into him. As Henry tries to stop them to ask what’s been happening, one of the soldiers swings at him with a rifle, opening a bloody gash on the top of his head. After a long while of waiting, a friendly soldier finds him and leads him back to camp, where a friend tends to his wound. After a few days of waiting, they come across another battle. This time Henry doesn’t flee, instead he thinks about all the people who have fought and died in the war, and decides to do the same: fight. Not only for the glory this time, but for the people he was

Henry’s mental state also differed before and after the Vietnam War. Henry thought clearly and acted sane before war. When he put his mind to something he accomplished it. Henry interacted well because of his knowledge of cars. Lyman says, “He was always out with that car” describing the knowledge that Henry had about the car to fix it from the bad condition it was in (978). His mental state was that of any normal person.

In The Red Badge of Courage, Henry shows immaturity by enlisting in the army and being naïve about the war. Henry explains that since he was young, he dreamed about the war of the bloody battles that the soldiers fought in. He thinks fighting in a war will make him a hero and achieve glory. He enlisted in the army, although his mother opposed the decision. However, when he makes it to the camp, he had to wait many weeks in the camps until he was called up to battle, and he started to doubt his place in the army.

Henry being so consciously aware of the reoccurring violence and deaths of many soldiers causes him to constantly reminisce about the war in Vietnam and its horrific events. “PTSD” however, is very common amongst veterans. My father who had fought in the Vietnam War had “PTSD.” And even after many years of prior to the war, his past always seemed to have consumed his reality. The violent images and emotional feelings about the war in Vietnam have caused him to visualize the war in a form of a nightmare whenever he sleeps. This can explain his frequent sleep talks at night about the Vietnam War as he screams “giết tất cả” which translates to kill them all. Of course he had it coming that the cause of his children to become distant towards him was because of his unexplained actions. But nonetheless, it is the result of many pasts that is the responsibility of shaping ones fear and sensation towards life.

First, Henry might have been scared. He saw what happened in the first battle and it affected him in a way it didn't the others. This was the first time he fought in a war or battle with other men. He made friends with some of the soldiers in his regiment. If he stuck

When faced with adversities early into his first battle, he quickly reconsidered his views on war and courage. By running away from the face of battle, Henry “saw his vivid error, and he was afraid that it would stand before him all his life” (Cane 24.30).  This pushed him into believing that he would never be a man of courage of masculinity. This “error” of running away caused Henry to be angry at himself for mistakenly thinking the battle was over and abandoning his fellow soldiers. While away from the battle Henry discovers “that he had a scorching thirst” and “his body was calling for food” (Cane 11.21). From the struggle of war and the experience of Wilson, Henry learns to reflect upon his life and learn from his mistakes, rather than being angry at himself. This allowed Henry to be influenced by the culture around him, shaping him into acknowledging that courage was not depicted by a gunshot or a wound, but by the act of adhering to the line of duty and learning from your

Everything Lyman sees becomes a blur. To the boys, it was never about the places they’ve been or where they were headed to next. It was always about the ride and the bond between brothers. Louise displays Lyman’s thoughts of this summer by writing, “Some people hang on to details when they travel, but we didn’t let them bother us and just lived our everyday lives here and there” (par. 7). The one place that does stick out to the boys though, helps show the biggest contrast between Henry pre-war and post-war. It showed the reader just how laid back and calm Henry was. He could lie under the willows forever, as still as a

He described that he couldn’t escape even if he wanted to. Through this analogy, the reader can see that Henry is reducing the soldiers to unthinking, unfeeling machines, performing their duty without taking into account the threat of injury or death. As he looks around at the faces of the rest of the soldiers in his regiment, he notices their focused commitment to the firing of their rifles. He wonders if he is the only one faced with questions of morality. While the regiment began to advance, Henry was shocked to receive a packet of letters from Wilson, who feared he would die in battle. After the battle, he is glad that he made it through the first day. He begins to lose the romantic vision of war by seeing the realities, but he starts lying to himself about who is really is.