Comparing themes in “Stones” and “The Red Convertible”

The theme of War and the trauma that comes with it is present in both short stories. War can be defined as a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation. In the short story Stones, we see a David Max who went to war, but did not return completely. He was physically home, but he was not the same man emotionally. Before David went to war, he was happy and he loved his family. David joined the army for his family. He wanted to protect them. When he joined he felt that by him joining, his sons Ben and Cy would not have to join and become solider. The relationship he shared with Ben was a relationship that most long for it was a relationship that is desired for. That is, until he returned from war. Likewise, In the story “The Red Convertible” Henry suffers greatly from the war and it can be compared to Davids suffering. In the beginning, Henry comes off as an easy, hilarious, carefree, and cheerful young man. After spending three brutal years fighting in the war he became a very different person and he came back physically but like David he was not emotionally stable. Lymann begins to tell us that Henry was very different after returning home from war. He describes the change as being “no good”. He was very quiet, and he could never sit still and he would be constantly moving around. He was always a very cheerful man and now you couldn’t get a laugh out of him and it was all very different.