The Pressures of Family Living up to family expectations and obligations can be hard and take a toll on anyone. They may be pushed on you by other people or you might have put them on yourself. Disappointing the ones you love has a big impact on one’s self esteem and can possibly lead to self-destruction. I believe this was exactly the case in “The Red Convertible”. Before Henry goes off to war he is full of life and seems very happy without a care in the world. He and his brother have a close relationship and spend a lot of time together doing things. After Henry returns from war he is a very different person than the one that left. The spark of life had left him and he was an empty shell. The final scene of this story was heart-wrenching. As Henry and Lyman sat watching the river flow you could see Henry was struggling with his inner demons. Lyman tries to pull Henry out of his depression but Henry says he can’t. I believe Henry is feeling too much pressure to return to his old self. I think he wants to but doesn’t know how to get back to that person. The family doesn’t understand and seems to expect the same Henry to return as the one who left. No one knows what he has been through or what the enemy did to him when he was caught. Henry knew he was letting his family down and hurting them by his actions. He didn’t want to disappoint them any longer and made a drastic decision. Henry was tired of hurting his family and did his best to become his old self long enough to give his brother one last good memory. He starts dancing, hopping, and going wild. He has his brother laughing so hard his belly hurts. Then Henry jumps in the river and ends it all. I think Henry committed suicide to end his own torture that was going on inside himself as well as end the pain he was putting his family through. Although the family would probably disagree, Henry did what he