Symbolism in Louise Erdrichs Works - Essay Example

Symbolism in Louise Erdrich’s works There is heavy use of symbolism in “The Red Convertible” and “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich. In “The Red Convertible”, the author portrays the horrors of war that in a relationship that existed between two brothers, Lyman and Henry. The author has made use of symbolism as a way of revealing the hardships and trials that Henry brought home from the battlefield that took place in Vietnam. The author also shows the difficulties of Lyman when it comes to handling a separation from his brother. The ultimate purpose of this short story is to communicate the war emotional afflictions that are created on a soldier, as well as his relationships through the use of symbolism. In “The Round House” by Louise Erdirich, the narrator is a 13 year old Joe, who is helping his father in prying out tree seedlings that had lodged in the cement-block foundation, in the family house. His father, who was a judge on an Ojibwe reservation started a job for the first time and left it to Joe to finish it. They later learned that Joe’s was brutally raped, and the boy and his father responded to this trauma in a way which was seemingly mundane in the beginning (Beidler and Barton 405). Geraldine, Joe’s mother was attacked somewhere near the ceremonial structure that was round, hence the title of the novel. The crime story in this novel is symbolic of the search for justice in life and the challenges people face in terms of reservation of life. In “The Red Convertible", Erdrich makes use of the red convertible as a symbol of Lyman and Henrys relationship as well as the war torn relationships that happen in the lives of soldiers. As the story starts, Lyman and Henry buy and restore and travel around the continent together in the convertible. This action is a representation of a normal relationship that takes place before the effects of war takes a toll on peoples lives. The main symbol in “The Red Convertible” is the car. The red flash car is used as a representation of the vibrant, youthful and exciting relationship that existed between Henry and Lyman. There is a change in the relationship when Henry goes out to war, and this is clearly demonstrated by Lyman, who takes a car apart; the car was left alone after the two were separated following Henry’s departure for war (Erdrich 464). Later, Henry returned from war as a changed and scarred man and had also lost his usual interest in the convertible as well as in Lyman. Lyman tries to rekindle their relationship, but all his efforts were futile. As a result of neglect, Lyman bangs the car up a symbolism of a banged up relationship between the two. Symbolically Henry tries to repair the car as a way of getting close to his brother. Erdrich has used symbolism to express the concerns, which soldiers usually have in regard to their future relationships after the war (Beidler and Barton 400). The relationship between Henry and Lyman is an expression of the saddening effects that war has one close relationship between the soldiers and their family members. The author has also connected the death of Henry to the death of the convertible as well as the death of the relationship they had with Lyman. When Henry jumped into the river and drowned, Lyman was assured that he will never be able to see his brother again and so he runs the convertible into the river, and it was forever gone alongside the relationship he had with his brother (Erdrich 461). It is evident that the author has used symbolism to represent and show how relationships are affected by war. Relationships usually start out being healthy, but war transforms them with no hope of ever returning into normalcy. In the end, relationships end up being destroyed by war. Erdirch also uses the fatigues and boots of Henry as symbols in “The Red Convertible”. They have been used as representation of the permanent effects of war on relationships and persons. Henry constantly wore his field jacket as well as worn in clothes that he had come back with after the Vietnam War. The refusal to change is a clear indication of his permanent connection with the war and that he will always carry the horrors and scars of war on him. The fatigues are also used to express his feelings of loneliness (Stookey 39). He used fatigue to isolate himself and to appear different in order to express how he feels. He refuses to wear the clothes he wore before going to war as he does not feel the same as before. The author has, therefore, used the combat boots of Henry as a literal cause of his death, though symbolically war was the cause (Erdrich 460). His boots are a representation of war, both as part of the uniform wore during the war and as the cause of his death; the terror of war drowns Henry. The author has also used the picture that Bonita had taken of the boys with the red convertible. In the picture, the face of Lyman is happy and clear (it is right out in the sun) while that of Henry had been hidden by a shadow that appears in the picture; the shadows on his face as deep as holes (Erdrich 465). This image is a foreshadow of the events that were to come where Henry would fade away from his family. The picture also shows the soul of Lyman as a whole and content, a representation of the soul of a person before the war. In contrast, the picture shows the troubled and scarred soul of Henry and the author used a representation of how souls look life after the war (Erdrich 465). Therefore, the author has used the picture of the two brothers to show the wounds that soldier carries emotionally for all of their life after war. The author has also used color television as a symbol of the emotional trauma on the soldiers and their relationships which is caused by war. After returning from Vietnam, Henry discovered the new color television that had been bought by Lyman for their mother. He becomes obsessed with it which makes Lyman to regret having purchased it in the first place. Lyman says “I was sorry, I’d bought color, because with a black and white the pictures seem older and farther away” (Erdrich 463). Henry saw the coverage of the war from television and this made his to relieve his experiences through the color television set and hence becoming entranced which made him neglect his family and also become very violent with Lyman. The color red has also been used symbolically all through the story. The color red can be interpreted in different meanings depending on the experiences and situation of individuals. Red creates emotions that range from love to violence as well as war (Beidler and Barton 410). The author has used symbolism to reveal the horrible effects that war has on soldiers as well as on their relationships. She accomplishes her purpose by making the audience understand the effects of war and that war affects more than the soldier and that war is like death and affects everyone and everything that is involved in the life of the soldier. In “The Round House”, the novel starts with symbolism where a young boy, Joe is used as the narrator on issues that he barely understands. The crime of rape on Joes mother, the investigations and the consequences are the insidious seedlings that worked their way into the life of Joe (Miller 1). To present this, the author has used the tree seedlings that had lodged in the cement-block foundation, in the family house. The tree seedlings are symbolic of the work of crime into the life of Joe; life is the foundation and the solid concrete of his world. Joe also bikes around the landscape of his evaporating childhood in pursuit of justice for his mother. The title of the novel is a symbolism of the ceremonial structure where Geraldine was raped, and the land is a symbolism of the jigsaw puzzle of state, the tribunal and federal territories, with each having different officials and laws to enforce them. The author has used Joe and his young friends as a representation of the naivety of some people who highly believe that justice has to prevail in order for the world to be a better place for living (Beidler and Barton 415). Regardless of his age, Joe was determined to catch the criminal behind the inhuman act against his mother in order for him to reveal the truth and restore justice with or without the help of the law. However, the question is how the justice will be restored since the criminal is halfway through the books, which create tension. As a result, the author conveys a rich cultural history that has continued to remain on reservations, which are passed through oral knowledge and histories as well as through the disempowerment and isolation in daily life. The author has also used the young Joe and the former stripper (Sonja), who lives with his uncle and who fed and mothered him while Geraldine descended into a paralyzing depression to show how the older generations boisterously cackle over their sexual exploits and more so the young ones, a situation which is realistic to the world today (Miller 2). Joe says that he felt different about the woman’s breasts when he says that the breasts were “my two loves”, objects of mesmerized fascination in which he strived to conceal. It is through Sonja that Joes learned about how rage and selfishness can highly poison desires (Stookey 39). The author has also used the mistreatment of Sonja to present one of the many instances in which people approach complex legal and moral stances, long and rich cultural history of abuse with a dent hand. Both Joe and Sonja are symbolisms of the isolation as well as the rich culture that defines reservation of life, hence forming a powerful memorable backdrop of the vigilant justice. The Roman priest has also been used to present the reservations that people have based on their culture. The priest talks of Gods free will and his ability to draw good from any evil situation while the beliefs of Joe are based on the tales he got from his ancient grandfather. Annotated Bibliography 1. Louise, Erdrich. The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978-2008. HarperCollins, 2010, pg 461-465 This book gives detailed information of the fictional world of Louise Erdrich. The fantastic leaps and twists of her imagination are made more meaningful by the use of deeper human feelings that underlie them. 2. Lorena, Stookey. Louise Erdrich: A Critical Companion. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999, pg 39 This book analyzes the themes, characters and styles that are used in Erdrichs canon of interconnected stories. This provides an insightful analysis to the narrative style used by Erdrich and the wisdom used in her writings. 3. Louise, Erdrich. The Round House. HarperCollins, 2012, pg 1-368 The book provides details of how crime is slow to surface as in the case of Geraldine, who is traumatized and reluctant on revealing what happened to her. The novel is a representation and a reflection of what happens today in the modern society. 4. Laura, Miller. The Round House by Louise Erdrich-Review, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/18/round-house-louise-erdrich-review This article provides a review of The Round House by Louise Erdrich and explains on how the author wrote the novel through the eyes of a teenage boy. The article also explains how Joel came to age on a Native-American reservation. 5. Franci, Washburn. Tracks on a Page: Louise Erdrich, Her Life and Works: Louise Erdrich, Her Life and Works. ABC-CLIO, 2013, pg 1-145 This book provides a track on the works of Louise Erdirch and performs a literacy analysis of all her works, which provides readers with a nuanced and complete understanding of how the identity of the author and the American Indian influenced her writing. 6. Maria, Russo. Disturbing the spirits: ‘The Round House’ by Louise Erdrich. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/books/review/the-round-house-by-louise-erdrich.html?_r=0 This article elaborates on Erdirch’s work where the narrator seeks justice from a crime that was quite devastating. The article also provides explanations on the symbolic meanings of the round house and the landscape. 7. Peter, Beidler and Gay, Barton. A Readers Guide to the Novels of Louise Erdrich University of Missouri Press, 2006, pg 400-417 This book acts as a guide to the novels of Louise Erdrich and acts as a glossary for the novels and short stories. Works Cited Louise, Erdrich. The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978-2008. HarperCollins, 2010, pg 461-465 Lorena, Stookey. Louise Erdrich: A Critical Companion. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999, pg 39 Louise, Erdrich. The Round House. HarperCollins, 2012, pg 1-368 Laura, Miller. The Round House by Louise Erdrich-Review, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/18/round-house-louise-erdrich-review Franci, Washburn. Tracks on a Page: Louise Erdrich, Her Life and Works: Louise Erdrich, Her Life and Works. ABC-CLIO, 2013, pg 1-145 Maria, Russo. Disturbing the spirits: ‘The Round House’ by Louise Erdrich. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/books/review/the-round-house-by-louise-erdrich.html?_r=0 Peter, Beidler and Gay, Barton. A Readers Guide to the Novels of Louise Erdrich University of Missouri Press, 2006, pg 400-417 Read More