Character and Point of View in “The Red Convertible” Essay

The Red Convertible is a short tosh by Louis Erdrich, in which two native American brothers named Marty and Henry decide to steal a red convertible Oldsmobile unitedly. The two brothers sp contain much of the summer travelling around to buildher in the car until the older brother, Stephan, is deployed to Vietnam. When Stephan returns, he is not the same and Marty tries desperately to recover their past human relationship. The round, static, perseverant role of Marty in The Red Convertible is revealed through the first person channelize of view.The younger brother in the spirit level, Marty, is round and static. Throughout the entire story, the ref is given insight into Martys thoughts and feelings, such as, I was condemn commensurate Id ever bought it, though, because of Stephan, and I was also sorry Id bought color (Erdrich 5). Marty does not openly convey this statement to his family. Martys beliefs and values do not change over the feast of the story. In the beginning he , thought back to times wed sat still for whole afternoons (5) and in the end of the story he yells at Stephan, wake up, wake up, wake up (8). This shows that at the end of the story, Marty wants things to be normal just like he did in the beginning of the story.Martys perseverant nature influences the story because it shows how deeply he longs for his relationship with his brother to be normal again, and creates a sense of desperation. For example, Marty says, One shadow Stephan was off somewhere. I took myself a hammer. I went out to that car and I did a number to its underside. whacked it up (6). This shows how much he is willing to do to make Stephan normal again despite Stephans serious condition. Also, when Marty says, By the time I get out of the river, off the snag I pulled myself onto, the cheer is down it is implied that he tried to save Stephan from drowning, again showing how desperate Marty is to wealthy person his brother back.The point of view of the story is firs t. The author repeatedly uses statements like Im laughing so weighed down (10) and, I walk back to the car (10). This makes it clear that the story is being told from Martys point ofview. The way out of using a first person point of view in the story is allowing the reader to have an emotional connection with Marty because it puts the reader in his shoes. The story may not be effective if told from some other point of view such as third dramatic because the reader would not be able to fully understand the depth of Martys connection with his brother because his feelings would not be expressed in the story.The round, static, perseverant character of Marty is revealed through the first person point of view. Because the story is told from Martys perspective, it reveals how desperately he wants Stephan to get better. For example, Marty says I tell you right then I wanted to smash that tube to pieces (5). This shows how he was energetic to destroy something he worked hard for in hopes it will help to make his brother better. Throughout the story Marty continues to do things to try to make Stephan better and through the first person point of view the reader sees how often he hopes and tries to accomplish this.By the authors use of the first person point of view, it allows the reader to be put into Martys shoes, therefore developing a round, static character and reveals to the reader how perseverant Marty was due to his relationship with his brother.Work CitedErdrich, Louise. The Red Convertible. Print.