English

Discuss the significance of the red Oldsmobile in Louise Erdrich’s story “The Red Convertible.”

Brainstorming ideas: What does it represent to the characters in the story? How is it described? How does the car tie the events of the story together and how does it connect the characters? How do the characters talk about the car, and how does the narrator describe it in his internal monologues? Do you think the car stands for a larger issue? If so, what is it, and how is that issue dramatized? Think about the setting of the story and the social context within which it is set. Could this same story take place in a wealthy suburb of a major city?