Red Convertible Symbolism

Brave men in the military who fight for their country are often victims of stereotype. They are thought of as emotionless people whose only purpose is to follow orders; have no sentimental attachments to any materiality or spirituality. On the contrary, Tim O’Brien on “The Things They Carried” and Louise Erdrich in “The Red Convertible” write about the meaning of symbolism.
Symbolism can be an object that we have a deep connection to depending on the circumstances we are in. In “The Red Convertible” Louise Erdrich describes the relationship of Lyman and Henry when they both buy a red convertible. The car becomes a symbol of their connection as brothers, but also the car foreshadows Henry’s health after he comes back from war. When the brother
In “The Things They Carried,” Tim O'Brien mentions a group of soldiers in war. O’Brien describes in such detail the things they carry like ammunition and medical supplies. But not just only physical items but also objects from home that symbolize what they left behind and miss. Each soldier carries an object that connects to them. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha someone who he loved. This important object symbolizes his love he has for her. The things that soldiers carry were also determined by superstition. “Lieutenant Cross carried his good luck-pebble. Dave Jensen carried a rabbit’s foot.” The symbolism was a superstition of what they believe in, by holding those items are a sense of comfort. The soldiers carried around things that made it easier to cope with their situations "They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere...they carried gravity." But the greatest weight that soldiers carry are their emotions: "Grief, terror, love, longing these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight." These emotional burdens are the heaviest because they are intangibles and cannot be disposed of. While the objects help them thru the war it can also be a symbolism after the war is over. They can symbolize their past life in the war, a memory they left behind. Soldiers tend to carry tangible and intangible objects, no matter how heavy they are, they all share the same loads of love, pain and