The Red Convertible Louise Erdrich

          1. Why is Lyman upset by the picture of himself and his brother? When does the picture begin to bother him? Do we know if it’s before of after Henry’s death? Does it make a difference to our interpretation of the story? What burden of memory does this picture carry?   2. Consider the tone of the final paragraph, in which Lyman is describing how he felt when he gave his car to his dead brother. Look at the diction surrounding the red convertible here: It plows into the water; the headlights “reach in…go down, searching”; they are “still lighted.” What attribute does the diction give the car? How is the car different now from the way it’s been in the rest of the story? Does this transformation of the car invoke a sense of closure in the story?   3. The closing sentence says, “And then there is only the water, the sound of it going and running and going and running and running.” How does this statement comment on the relationship between the two brothers?