Lyman is a young man trying to figure out who he is and what is important to him. His rite of passage involves his movement from youth to adulthood. The environment in which he lives offers him two alternative lifestyles: his own native culture and the white culture. Lyman begins by favoring the more affluent white culture,thus, his rite of passage involves his coming to terms with what the white culture.
really represents.
The white culture which is clearly the empowered society, is what attracts Lyman at first. The whites see it as unusual for a native to make money, for example in his cafe. Lyman is the only native child who is allowed in the American Legion Hall, to shine shoes.
Lyman separates himself somewhat from his native culture and aspires to succeed in the white world. Buying the red convertible, which he first believes is "alive", is a signal that he is making this shift. He is the first, if not only, native to drive a convertible on his reservation.
When Henry returns from the war, Lyman looks to the shite people to make his brother better. But his Mom says that they don't make patients better, they just drug them. Not to mention natives are seldom welcome in the white hospital. So, Lyman decides to try to help Henry get better by himself. One night, he takes a hammer and destroys the underside of the red convertible, "whacked it up and bent the tail pipe". Knowing that Henry would want to repair it and hopefully take his mind off the pain he came home from the war with.
In the end, after Henry drowns himself, Lyman completely disconnects himself from the convertible by pushing it into the water and he confirms his status as a native when he says "Lyman walks everywhere he goes". .