The Struggle In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

James Hurst, the author of “The Scarlet Ibis”, uses death and birds as symbols to show how Doodle is fragile and could die at any moment. Red is a color that is often associated with evil and other times it represents love. Birds also represent death and fragility, but they also mean freedom and change. This shows how Doodle’s and Brother’s paradoxical relationship changes from Brother being evil and selfish, to him being an extremely helpful and caring brother.

The “Scarlet Ibis” is a short story about a boy born with a medical condition, and his brother, who means well but is self absorbed. The story starts off about a grown man who recalls to the time when his little brother, Doodle is with him. It shows his guilt about Doodle’s death, his sorrow surrounding it, and it reflects on the good times they had together. In the “Scarlet Ibis” Brother is characterized as cruel, caring, and prideful.

In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis”, the Brother pushed Doodle to learn how to walk, swim, run and various activities so that Doodle would not seem to be crippled. Through the Brother's characterization, conflicts and eventual resolution, Hurst suggested that one's overwhelming selfishness, pride and cruelty can result in the death of a loved brother.

The scarlet ibis is native to the tropics of Florida and cannot survive elsewhere. Likewise, Doodle does not belong into society because of his physical weaknesses and cannot live without his brother’s help. When the ibis dies, Doodle realizes their similarities. This is shown by his sudden change of mood and his need to bury the bird. “’I’m not hungry,”

If the words of Isabelle Norton are true and that “In a friend you find a second self,” then the character of Doodle in James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis” uses his lie of an imaginary friend, Peter, to find comfort in his “second self.” Trying to cope with being less than perfect, Doodle, like many young children, creates an imaginary but psychologically-fulfilling friend whose significance is about providing Doodle with limitless ability and limitless protection. Representing everything that Doodle cannot be, Peter is a symbol of the life that Doodle wishes he could live and allows Doodle to cope with the stress of being different.

Symbolism is used to signify ideas and qualities about an object or idea and is used when the author wants to give those objects or ideas meanings different from their literal sense. Symbols are often used in literature to bring a deeper meaning to a story or work. These meanings can emphasize or intensify feelings of anything from love and hope, to danger and sadness. James Hurst uses symbolism in his work, “The Scarlet Ibis”, to convey and emphasize some of these feelings and ideas in his story. “The Scarlet Ibis” centers around the lives of Brother, a very driven and determined child, and his younger brother, Doodle, an innocent and naive individual with a heart condition that causes doctors to believe that he

In “The Scarlet Ibis” James Hurst symbolizes the narrator’s brother, Doodle, as the scarlet ibis, and the narrator as the storm, in order to reveal the theme that challenging someone to go beyond their limits can help in achieving extraordinary results, however pushing the limits too far may prove fatal. As the narrator, Doodle, and their family were eating dinner, they saw a scarlet ibis getting carried by the storm and “[tumbling] down, … landing at [their] feet with a thud”. Doodle’s family doesn’t care much, however, Doodle takes time to respect the bird and to bury it, even though he saw the bird for the first time as if he had some special connection with the ibis. “It’s a scarlet ibis! … South America to Florida. A storm must have brought it here. A scarlet Ibis! How many miles it had traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree” (14). The bird, native to South America had flown all the way from “South America to Florida”, which was way beyond its natural capacity. Doodle had also come a long way from being a baby who everyone thought wouldn't survive or a cripple who couldn’t stand. “A storm … brought it here”, somewhat assisting it and somewhat forcing it. Doodle learned to walk, with help from the narrator who pushed him and didn’t let him give up. Now the narrator was pushing Doodle, even more, to learn rowing, swimming, and fighting even though his body and heart were weak. The storm had powered the amazing flight but pushed the bird’s

Someone will always die and they will have a funeral, but can you imagine losing someone close to you? How about you brother? In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” there are many situations when death is among Doodle and his body. James Hurt wrote the story the “Scarlet Ibis” about a boy that was suppose to be a miscarriage and even the doctor said that he would not survive. He lives on with his brother to help him through his adventurous life. The brother is very ashamed that his young brother came to be disabled and he teaches his to walk. All of this James Hurt creates through his writing. Throughout essay there will be multiple ways the author is expression the tone. Through the use of figurative language, imagery, and symbolism, James Hurst creates a Mournful tone in his short story, “The Scarlet Ibis”.

In “The Scarlet Ibis,” Hurst narrates how Brother’s pride and selfishness ultimately leads to the death of his disabled brother Doodle. As Doodle grows throughout the story, his brother teaches him how to be normal so he does not feel embarrassed about having a disabled brother. The selfish narrator pushes Doodle to the limits, blinded by his own pride, to have Doodle trained and ready for kindergarten. There are many pieces of text in the story which show the author’s use of foreshadowing and symbolism to portray Doodle’s terrible and despairing death. Primarily, Hurst hides clues in his text which establish that pride and love can end up being harmful.

The topic of this story is that you need to exceed standards you are contained by and the connection between Doodle and the Scarlet Ibis. Doodle is a special little boy. Doodle wasn't supposed to even live, he was supposed to die

This is because Doodle was affected and felt sorry for the scarlet ibis. Doodle believed he

The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, is a story of a young boy name Doodle who was born with disabilities. Through his own brothers pride and determination he learns to walk, his family is thrilled however his brother feels like Doodle can go further. This story contains many elements of symbolism like the color red, Doodles mahogany casket, nature, and the scarlet ibis itself. The symbols throughout the story provide a deeper and more intellectual meaning that is to can be determined by the reader

Both Doodle and the scarlet ibis’s life concluded in a terrible way. In the story, the narrator explained the death of the scarlet ibis, “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 landing at our feet with a thud. Its long, graceful neck jerked twice into an S, then straightened out, and the bird was still,” (Hurst ll. 298-302). Also, the narrator specified Doodle’s tragic death, “He didn’t answer, so I placed my hand on his forehead and lifted his head. Limply, he fell backward onto the earth. He had been bleeding from the mouth, and his neck and the front of his shirt were stained a brilliant red,” (Hurst ll. 383-386). The scarlet ibis traveled a long way from where it lived to escape from the storm. The bird began to die due to an injury. As a result from that injury, the scarlet ibis’s life terminated. Doodle’s life also came to an end after he traveled a long way. Doodle traveled a long way by learning many new things and developing many skills that he was unable to do before. From being pushed so hard, his heart condition took over and his life

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.

At the first of the story, Doodle was believed not to even live a couple of days, but he pulled through and worked hard in learning how to walk, row, and do other basic activities. As he kept trying to do more and more work each day, it put more and more stress and pain on his body and his weak heart, he overworked himself, and therefore, his body gave up under all the pressure. When the narrator’s family found the Scarlet Ibis dead, it was noticeable that it had flown from somewhere extensively far away. The Scarlet Ibis and Doodle did the exact same thing – they tried to work themselves more to hopefully accomplish more in the long run, but ultimately ended up killing themselves because their bodies weren’t made strong and proficient, they were made fragile and delicate.