Below you will find a list of important/significant quotations from Erdrich's short story. Why is each particular quotation significant? How does it contribute to the argument Erdrich develops?
A: "My own talent was I could always make money. I had a touch for it, unusual in a Chippewa."
B: There it was, parked large as life. Really as if it was alive. I thought of the word repose, because the car wasn't simply stopped, parked, or whatever. That car reposed, calm and gleaming, a FOR SALE sign in its left front window. Then, before we had thought it over at all, the car belonged to us and our pockets were empty. We had just enough money for gas back home.
C. "Hop on in," says Henry. So she climbs in between us.
"We'll take you home," I says. "Where do you live?"
"Chicken" she says.
"Where the hell's that?" I ask her?
"Alaska."
"Okay," says Henry, and we drive.
D: We liked to tease him that they really wanted him for his Indian nose. He had a nose big and sharp as a hatchet, like the nose on Red Tomahawk, the Indian who killed Sitting Bull, whose profile is on signs all along the North Dakota highways.
E: Once I was sitting in the room watching TV with Henry and I heard his teeth click at something. I looked over, and he'd bitten through his lip. Blood was running down his chin. I tell you right then I wanted to smash that tube to pieces. I went over to it but Henry must have known what I was up to.
F. "That car's a classic! But you went and ran the piss right out of it, Lyman, and you know it don't deserve that. I kept that car in A-one shape. You don't remember. You're too young. But when I left, that car was running like a watch. Now I don't even know if I can get it to start again, let alone get it anywhere near its old condition."
G. "I walk back to the car, turn on the high beams, and drive it up the bank. I put it in first gear and then I take my foot off the clutch. 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 water, the sound of it going and running and going and running and running."
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Below you will find a list of important/significant quotations from Erdrich's short story. Why is each particular quotation significant? How does it contribute to the argument Erdrich develops?
ReplyDeleteA: "My own talent was I could always make money. I had a touch for it, unusual in a Chippewa."
-I think this is him trying to describe himself. This story is dark in the end and this gives you a chance to look at who he is and I also think it is a chance for him to brag on himself.
B: There it was, parked large as life. Really as if it was alive. I thought of the word repose, because the car wasn't simply stopped, parked, or whatever. That car reposed, calm and gleaming, a FOR SALE sign in its left front window. Then, before we had thought it over at all, the car belonged to us and our pockets were empty. We had just enough money for gas back home.
-I think this shows how the brothers do not really think before they act. This might be where the end come into play. Henry starts acting crazy by the river and Lyman says that Henry starts acting like himself. Henry runs into the river and that is when he gets swept away. This is another example of him not thinking before he acts.
C. "Hop on in," says Henry. So she climbs in between us.
"We'll take you home," I says. "Where do you live?"
"Chicken" she says.
"Where the hell's that?" I ask her?
"Alaska."
"Okay," says Henry, and we drive.
-The brothers are having such a great time they dont think about money or gas they just act.
D: We liked to tease him that they really wanted him for his Indian nose. He had a nose big and sharp as a hatchet, like the nose on Red Tomahawk, the Indian who killed Sitting Bull, whose profile is on signs all along the North Dakota highways.
-He is giving us a better idea of what his brother looked like. This helps us build a picture of Henry.
E: Once I was sitting in the room watching TV with Henry and I heard his teeth click at something. I looked over, and he'd bitten through his lip. Blood was running down his chin. I tell you right then I wanted to smash that tube to pieces. I went over to it but Henry must have known what I was up to.
-Henry was watching TV and something must have come on that bothered Henry and Lyman knew. This is an example of how Henry had changed and how his life was after coming home from the war.
F. "That car's a classic! But you went and ran the piss right out of it, Lyman, and you know it don't deserve that. I kept that car in A-one shape. You don't remember. You're too young. But when I left, that car was running like a watch. Now I don't even know if I can get it to start again, let alone get it anywhere near its old condition."
-This part of the story involves Henry not acting like himself and acting like he is in a daze. Lyman beats up the car to see if Henry would notice. When Henry notices this is waht he says to Lyman and then he starts to work on the car.
G. "I walk back to the car, turn on the high beams, and drive it up the bank. I put it in first gear and then I take my foot off the clutch. 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 water, the sound of it going and running and going and running and running."
-This is the vert last part of the story where Henry gets swept away in the water. Lyman pushes the car into the water after looking for his brother. Its as if he pushes the car into the water because he wants his brother to have it. They had just gotten done arguing over the car. It might be that he would not be able to bear seeing the car again, like the picture of Henry on the wall. It would just be a bad memory instead of a good one.