Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst Analysis

Hurst utilizes foreshadowing to demonstrate how the brother’s selfishness and pride leads to the death of Doodle. Not long after Doodle was born, the mother explains to the brother that Doodle might be mentally handicapped as well as physically handicapped. The brother could not accept the fact that his brother is different, so he “began to make plans to kill him [Doodle] by smothering him in his sleep” (Hurst 1). From the very beginning, Doodle’s brother is unable to except the fact that his brother is not normal and never will be. His selfishness and pride leads him to want to kill

Because the story is told in first person, the audience experiences the narrators fluctuation from resentment to love through the diction used to show the narrators spite for his brother include "invalid", "unbearable", "kill", and "smothering" which reveal an hostile tone by showing that he is still a young boy who is bewildered about his brother. The Diction in the second paragraph such as "kindest" reveals more of a lighthearted and affectionate tone that shows the narrator has changed into a more devoted brother. Because the author tells the story in first person, the diction used by the narrator - "hopeless", "miracle", "pride", "proud, "wonderful", "terrible", and "life and death" - allows the reader to perceive a reflective tone and that the narrator has attained the knowledge of the benefits and handicaps of pride which can be the burden of life or death. (Page 347). (Page 345). his brother. Diction Example: Heresy The word heresy shows that the narrator has realized the reason Doodle died was because he let his pride triumph his love for his brother. The use of first person point of view allowed the reader to be a part and experience what the reader was going through and his thoughts and actions. When the narrator "threw his body to the Earth above his" the audience felt like

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.

The family of Doodle knew that he would have a short life so they just kept Doodle in another room so they wouldn’t get attached to him. The older brother showed Doodle his casket and threatened to leave Doodle there which was harsh and unnecessary.

The color red symbolizes a strong motif throughout this short story. “The Scarlet Ibis,” and scarlet is a shade of red. Doodle and the scarlet ibis are connected to each other. They both are damaged and die in a windstorm. As the ibis fell and hit the ground, he had blood coming from it’s mouth. When Doodle dies in the storm his brother treats him as if he were sick. Then Doodle symbolically overtakes the Scarlet Ibis.

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 despondent mood at the beginning of the story, mirrors the loss of innocence of the narrator because he had to face the responsibility and guilt of Doodle’s death.

In the end it began to rain, signifying that Doodle was pure and innocent. All of his worries were washed away in the rain and put on the shoulders of his brother. I think this is actually pretty fair because Doodle is dead because of his brother. Granted he was born prematurely and has several heart issues that were a huge part of his death.

After the ibis falls out of the tree, Brother depicts the bird as exquisite and says “Even death did not mar its grace, for it lay on the earth like a broken vase of red flowers, and we stood around it, awed by its exotic beauty.” (6). Even in death, the ibis did not fail to show its grace and its magnificence. When Doodle dies of overwork, the text describes Doodle’s body as “ had never before seemed so fragile, so thin.” When Doodle dies, Brother finally realizes Doodle’s limitations and how all this time Doodle has been exceeding his limits because of him.

The scarlet ibis is a symbol representing Doodle, as many traits between them are similar in both their life and death. When Doodle’s mother said, “‘Don’t you dare touch him… There’s no telling what disease he might have had’” about the scarlet ibis, it can also apply to Doodle (393).

The first way, the red bird was a symbol of Doodle, because of its red color. Another symbol is, Doodle died under the same type of tree that the bird died under, they were both sick, and they died in the same way, majestically. The final example is, that both Doodle and the scarlet ibis were out out of place, the scarlet ibis should have been in warmer weather, while Doodle should’ve been dead. The Narrator said the next quote because his brother looked like the scarlet ibis that just died under the tree in front of their house. “For a long long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis for the heresy of rain.”

Literary Analysis:”The Scarlet Ibis” Why do people sometimes hurt the ones they love? Some people in life want things so badly they will do anything for it, even if it involves hurting a loved one. In the story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Doodle’s brother pushes him to what seems to Doodle as extreme limits to get him to do physical stuff like walk, swim and play. In the story Doodle is a child who is incapable of walking or really doing anything. Doodle’s brother gets fed up with how Doodles can’t walk and how he has to take him everywhere he goes.

In the beginning of the story, the narrator said the Doctor had told the family, "... that he mustn't get too excited, too hot, too cold, or too tired… all of which I ignored once we got out of the house." (Hurst 596). The narrator ignored the doctor's advice in order for Doodle to be healthy. After they left the house the brother made Doodle do many things his weak heart could not handle; like swimming, running and other physical activities. On that note, the narrator knew Doodle could not get too fatigued or severe problems could occur. One of the consequences of Doodle getting too overworked is death and many people may argue that the narrator overworked Doodle on purpose because he was selfish. Near the end of the story, the boys were at the pond and it started to storm, "I began to run… 'Brother, Brother don't leave me!... I went back and found him…'Doodle! Doodle'... but there was no answer in the ropy rain." (Hurst 604). The narrator wanted him and his brother to get home quickly through the storm so he ran, he ran faster than Doodle could breathe. The narrator had a flawed plan and something bad was bound to happen. In the end, Doodle's weak frail body couldn't fulfill the risky plan to survive getting home. Additionally, Doodle asked his brother to wait but he completely ignored that request. The narrator was a lousy brother because he cared about Doodle being normal

The short story, The Scarlet Ibis, was written by James Hurst. This short story focuses on Doodle and his older brother and takes place during the early 1900s. Doodle was born as a caul baby, which makes him disabled. A caul is where a membrane covers up the entire head of the newborn baby. Since it was the early 1900s, they didn’t have that much medical advancements and knowledge to make it easy to remove. His older brother is the narrator of this short story and shows that he doesn’t like having a disabled brother. Many different conflicts are shown throughout this passage, but the three main conflicts are person vs. person, person vs. self, and person vs. nature.

To begin with, pride can make something better or worse with symbolism in multiple ways in this story. One of the examples is the color red. When the people hear the color red, the reader might think of blood and death. This is exactly how it was used in the story. Right when doodle was born, everyone thought he was going to die because his disabilities, so when Brother saw Doodle for the first time he described him. Doodle said, “ He seemed all head, with a tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man’s.” ( Hurst 1) This quote shows symbolism with the word red. They started talking about red whenever they are speaking about death. Brother described Doodle with a red and shriveled body when he was born because Doodle wasn’t suppose to survive. It relates to the theme because Brother had so much pride in having a little brother at first. The color red kept appearing in Doodles life until eventually it appeared for the final time