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“I wrote him back several times, even though I didn't know if those letters would get through. I kept him informed all about the car. Most of the time I had it up on blocks in the yard or half taken apart, because that long trip did a hard job on it under the hood.”

In the middle of the story, while Henry Junior is away fighting in the Vietnam War, Lyman’s disassembled red convertible represents the change Henry Junior is going through behind the scenes. Although Lyman is unaware of it, the damage done to the car parallels the damage being done to Henry Junior’s psyche. Lyman’s speculation that his letters are not getting through to Henry Junior also foreshadows how unreachable Henry Junior will be when he returns home from Vietnam traumatized by his experience. Unlike the car, however, the damage done to Henry Junior is permanent and cannot be fixed.

“I'd bought a color TV set for my mom and the rest of us while Henry was away. Money still came very easy. I was sorry I'd ever bought it though, because of Henry. I was also sorry I'd bought color, because with black-and-white the pictures seem older and farther away.”

After Henry Junior returns from the war, his time spent in front of the television keeps him psychologically trapped in the Vietnam War. Color televisions were becoming popular in American homes across the nation, providing more realistic images of the violence and destruction of the Vietnam War. Although Erdrich never outright states that Henry Junior is watching images of the war, it is implied by his reaction and Lyman’s regret over purchasing the color television. Lyman’s luck with money is ironic because it is not lucky at all that the television, which is a luxury entertainment item, is actually having a deeply negative effect on his brother.

“The water hadn't gone over the banks yet, but it would, you could tell. It was just at its limit, hard swollen, glossy like an old gray scar.”

At the story’s climax, Henry Junior and Lyman drive down to the river on a cold spring day. The drive parallels their innocent, youthful trips in the red convertible before Henry Junior left for Vietnam. In contrast, the cold weather and the aggressive current of the river symbolize the inner turmoil Henry Junior is experiencing. Lyman describes the river as “an old gray scar” to imply that Henry Junior’s pain has left an ugly mark on him. Lyman’s speculation that the water level is about to flow over the banks foreshadows that Henry Junior's trauma is about to bubble over into more tragedy.

“I get out, close the door, and watch it plow softly into the water. The headlights reach in as they go down, searching, still lighted even after the water swirls over the back end. I wait. The wires short out. It is all finally dark. And then there is only the water, the sound of it going and running and going and running and running.”

The very last lines of the story confirm the foreshadowing in the first lines, in which Lyman cryptically states that Henry Junior now owns the whole red convertible. The “death” of the car parallels Henry Junior’s death in heartbreaking detail. The imagery as Lyman watches the car sink into the water is full of symbolism. The headlights searching the water can be interpreted as searching for the innocence and joy that both Henry Junior and Lyman have lost. It can also be seen more literally as futilely searching for Henry Junior below the water’s surface. When the car finally short circuits, Lyman is left with the dark reality of his brother’s death. The only thing left is the sound of running water, which symbolizes Lyman’s continual grief.

Next section The Gravity of PTSD

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