Henry And Lyman's Rebirth In 'The Red Convertible'

The Red Convertible is a story about the ups and downs of brotherly love. The way that the author presents the story is rather unique he uses the red convertible as a symbol of rebirth and death repeatedly throughout the story. The rebirth and death of the car match with actions taking place with the two brothers, Henry and Lyman.
One would think that since Henry and Lyman both worked so hard that they would have a car. Lyman says, "Don't ask me why, because we never mentioned a car or anything, we just had all our money" (Lamartine, 365). It was not until they saw this red convertible that they decided to purchase a vehicle. Lyman was very excited the first time he saw the red convertible. The brothers had been to busy working and living their day to day lives that they did not spend much time together but this red convertible was the rebirth or start of something new for them. Lyman felt as if the car was alive.
They spent their summers traveling and enjoying each others company. The red convertible had brought the brothers closer together and was the link that created such a
Lyman thought that this car would once again bring the two back together but Henry had changed and no one knew if he'd ever be the same. Henry had not seen the car since he had returned and Lyman was getting fed up with the way Henry was acting, so Lyman took a hammer and wrecked the car. It took over a month for Henry to finally go and see the car and of course he was upset at what he saw. He said to Lyman, "that red car looks like shit…that car's a classic! But you went and ran the piss right out of it" (368). Lyman knew exactly what he was doing by wrecking the car; he wanted his brother back and knew that this was the way to do it. Henry decision to work on the car represents again a rebirth of their bond. Although Henry was not all the way normal it was a start and Lyman was happy about