Indirect Characterization In The Scarlet Ibis

The short story "The Scarlet Ibis" was written by James Hurst. This story is about a boy and his younger, disabled brother. Doodle was born and diagnosed as an invalid. Not being able to do certain things affected his life. The narrator set out to teach Doodle the things he never thought he could do. The narrator is described to be a prideful and determined person.

¨At six years old, when his brother is born, the narrator tells the reader that from the first, Doodle was "a disappointment." When he learns that Doodle is possibly mentally and physically challenged, the narrator begins his plan to kill his brother; however, his plans are soon discarded after Doodle smiles at him¨. (James Hurst) The main conflict of "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst is Brother's inability to deal with Doodle's disabilities.

Throughout the excerpt from The Scarlet Ibis, James Hurst uses figurative language to characterize Doodle and his brother. Both the narrator and Doodle are convincingly dynamic characters. As the story progresses, they both undergo a change in character. In the case of the unknown narrator, he transforms from a negative character to one with great determination. In the case of his younger brother, Doodle, he converts from seemingly weak to ostensibly accomplished.

The narrator, Brother, tells the story of Doodle, his brother, and his childhood with all his disabilities; starting off by telling about Doodle when he was a baby and toddler, about how he could not do much for himself for a long time, but eventually learns to crawl. He soon moves onto when Doodle got a little older and Brother would have to take him everywhere he went and how the two would take on the mission of teaching Doodle to walk; they spent almost everyday out in the woods making Doodle stronger and stronger. On Doodle’s sixth birthday, they showed the family what he could do;

Each of these things inside the coffin show how it still has elements of growth and development in it, even though it was left behind, much like Doodle. When Doodle finally touches the casket “a screech owl flapped out of the box into [their] faces, scaring [them] and covering [them] with Paris green” (112). Symbolizing Doodle’s death that is soon to happen, imitation plays a key role in the author’s portrayal of selfishness. Playing off of the idea that the casket shows death as scary yet beautiful, Doodle’s death ends up much the same way. Doodle and his brother are left covered in his blood, while this time the narrator is the one left behind, afraid of what will come next. Showing Doodle the coffin is the narrator’s way of secretly getting rid of Doodle from his daily life, without anyone noticing how selfish he was being. Imitation in symbolism is also key with the main symbol of the story, the scarlet ibis itself. As soon as Doodle and his brother began their training, “Doodle began to look feverish” and “at night he didn’t feel well” (115). Doodle was struggling to belong and he simply

“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a realistic fiction about these two brothers, Doodle, and Doodle’s brother who was the narrator of the story, many symbols are used. A symbol is a materialistic object being put in place for an abstract or complex emotion, or idea. For example the emojis you use when texting are symbols you use to express how you are feeling. In this story, Doodle is being symbolized by the Scarlet Ibis, the Scarlet Ibis is a bird and a symbol for Doodle because of their many similarities. An example of the Scarlet Ibis symbolizing Doodle is when Hurst describes the physical health of Doodle and the Ibis. He describes Doodle as being very sick and weak at the beginning of the story by saying “He seemed all head, with a tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man's. Everybody thought he was going to die-everybody except Aunt Nicey….” (Hurst page 1). Later on in the story when the Scarlet Ibis is introduced, Doodle’s father describes the bird as: “It looks tired, or maybe sick”(Hurst page 5). By giving Doodle and the Scarlet Ibis such similar physical features, it insinuates that whatever happens to the Scarlet Ibis will more than likely happen to Doodle. Another example of the Scarlet Ibis being a symbol for Doodle is when the Scarlet Ibis dies.” At that moment the bird began to flutter, but the wings were uncoordinated, and amid much flapping and a spray of flying feathers, it tumbled down, bumping through the limbs of the bleeding tree and

An important factor is that “The Scarlet Ibis” is told in the first person from the perspective of the brother of Doodle, a boy with a heart condition, after Doodle dies. And a change in character happens after Doodle’s death. The narrator’s change isn’t that directly shown but hangs over the rest of the story as commentary to what’s happening. The only way for someone with a

“-The wings were uncoordinated, and amid much flapping and a spray of flying feathers, it tumbled down... Its long, graceful neck jerked twice into an S, then straightened out, and the bird was still… ‘It lives in the tropics-South America to Florida. A storm must have brought it here.’” Doodle and the scarlet ibis both have physical weaknesses; their fragile legs and arms. Specifically, the bird exhausted itself to death, and Doodle will eventually do the same thing by being overworked during the rainstorm. Besides, the bird is in the wrong region since it’s native to the tropics, and Doodle is in the wrong environment as he cannot live up to his brother's expectations and generally doesn't fit into society. “How many miles it had traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree… [I] found [Doodle] huddled beneath a red nightshade bush… He had been bleeding through his mouth, and his neck and the front of his shirt were stained a brilliant red… with his head thrown far back… His little legs, bent sharply at the knees.” In addition, they both die relatively due to the storm, under a red plant, necks both twisted, and are red after they've died. Altogether, these are all clear indications that the scarlet ibis symbolizes

In The Scarlet Ibis, what evidence does the narrarator use to support his claim that Doodle was a burden in many ways?

How far would you take your ‘love’ for someone? Would you kill them? Would you work them till they turn black and blue, or make them touch their own casket just to punish or scare them? Brother seemed to have no limits for Doodle, in “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. In this short story, Hurst showed the relationship between a crippled child and his older, forceful brother. Brother pushed Doodle to his maximum, trying to get him to walk, swim, run, and become a ‘normal’ child. Yet, becuase of his embarassment, Brother took his training to great lengths, killing Doodle in the end. This passage uses several important literary devices that advance the story, such as help the readers gain a better meaning of the symbols and what Hurst is trying to convey.

The setting of “The Scarlet Ibis” helps prepare the readers’ state of mind from the very beginning. In the first place, the story takes place at the end of World War I and represents the internal conflict the narrator has as he struggles between guilt of his younger brother’s death and the acceptance of his brother’s disabilities. With this in mind, the narrator is abashed over Doodle’s inability to walk because he thinks disabilities are shameful, and he wanted a brother who was athletic, outgoing, and adventurous. For this reason,”When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn't walk, so I set out to teach him (Hurst 417).” The narrator admits to going out of his way to train Doodle to walk because he has so much pride that it is getting in the way of more important goals, meaning he would rather have a “normal” brother than a happy one. The poor treatment of his brother ultimately leads to Doodle’s death. Furthermore, he forces Doodle to do things unwillingly, such as touch his own coffin and train him to be “normal”. The narrator traumatizes his little brother to think a certain way in order to become accepted by society. Even

There are multiple themes throughout “ The Scarlet Ibis”.The strongest theme in the story is that you should not do things for the benefit of yourself all the time, you should do things for the benefit of others also.His selfishness is shown in this line of the story “ they did not know that I did it for myself; that pride,[...] and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (Hurst 468).Even though Doodle finally walked, his brother helped him for his own good, which shows his need to help himself before others.He taught Doodle how to walk for his own selfish reason that he was “ashamed” of him (Hurst 468). This shows the reader that doing things for your own benefit can have a negative effect on you.

When Doodle dies, he is being compared to the scarlet ibis, who died in a similar way. This creates a connection between the reader and the characters.

Hurst again uses bird symbols in the story when he vividly describes, “The bird began to flutter, but the wings were uncoordinated, and amid much flapping and a spray of flying feathers, it tumbled down, bumping through the limbs of the bleeding tree and landing at our feet with a thud.” (Hurst 5). While telling the story of the ibis, Hurst is simultaneously describing Doodle’s demise. Right before Doodle dies, he is attempting to catch up to his brother in the thunderstorm. Even though Doodle tries hard to catch up to his brother, much like the bird who is attempting to fly, Doodle’s physical shortcomings cause him to fail. Hurst then directly relates Doodle’s death to a bird when he is describing Doodle’s death. Doodle’s brother recounts, “I screamed above the pounding storm and threw my body to the earth above his. For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain.” (Hurst 6). Hurst related Doodle’s dead body to the dead ibis from earlier in the story. This metaphor seems to help his brother come to terms with what has happened. Although he had been cruel to him by running ahead of him, he is comforting Doodle now that he is dead. The many bird symbols throughout The Scarlet Ibis help to further support the theme of death in the

The Scarlet Ibis bird symbolizes Doodle; this symbolism can be seen by the authors description of both Doodle’s and the Scarlet Ibis’s appearance after death. After the Scarlet Ibis fell from the bleeding tree his