Themes And Symbols In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

In the fictional story “The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst illustrates several themes of the text through the symbols of the Old Woman Swamp and green. Doodle “climbed rope vines”(Hurst 3) at the Old Woman swamp and “learned [how] to walk [there]”(Hurst 3). Old memories can bring people together. For instance, Doodle going to the swamp with his brother brought back memories of them having fun. This brought them closer, he realized he didn't always dislike his brother. Doodle walked through the “shady cool… dark green woods”(Hurst 4). Innocence can be found in nature. The quote helps explain how Doodle learned how to walk in nature and felt relaxed. Consequently, Hurst places importance on the Old Woman’s Swamp and green in order to uncover hope

To help show this, it used many literary devices to make the reader feel apart of the story. Although there are hard times in your life, you will always be able to overcome it. For Doodle, it was having to deal with problems nobody else had. But with determination, people can do anything they set their mind to. There are always going to be obstacles in life that might not be easy to get around. For Doodle, he had to deal his own situation, being able to walk, that he eventually overcame. There will always be another way around an obstacle. As long as you work hard and use

Hurst’s diction at the beginning of the short story foreshadows the later death of Doodle. Hurst starts by setting a gloomy scene as the narrator is speaking. The narrator, Doodle’s old brother, soon states, “But sometimes, as I sit in the cool…I remember Doodle” (Hurst 1). Hurst uses the word “remember” to emphasize the fact that Doodle is no long around. Readers do not know what happened to Doodle, but begin to suspect the answer. In the next paragraph the narrator says, “Doodle was just about the craziest brother a boy ever had” (Hurst 1). In this quote, Hurst uses past tense words such as “was” and “had” to once again show that this was in the past. Hurst’s word choices foreshadow Doodle’s death and sparks interest in the readers at the very beginning. Foreshadowing is used at the beginning of the story to draw readers into the story and help keep their interest.

Doodle screams for him to not leave him, foreshadowing the way Doodle screams out for his brother in the storm, who causes him to die, just like the how the brother is the cause of Doodle touching his coffin, and in a way, his own death. The whole passage foreshadows almost exactly how Doodle dies, and how his brother becomes a factor in his death. It contributes to the mood by foreshadowing his death, keeping the reader on their toes. Readers can sense the eerie mood when the two interact with each other. They can see how superior the brother is, and how he can easily command Doodle to do anything, up to the point where he pushes him past his limit. Readers, in suspense, will then want to keep reading to see how this attribute of the brother will take a toll later on in the story. As the story continues, readers can infer that the brother is a very proud person, a characteristic that can be used for both good and bad. “It seemed so hopeless from the beginning that it’s a miracle I didn’t give up. But all of us must have something or someone to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine. I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” (Hurst 617) This statement foreshadows how the

Hurst develops the idea of death, and it is symbolic towards Doodle and his family. The idea of death has come over Doodle’s family. Doodle is the smell drifting across the cotton field into the room. “The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking softly the names of our dead”

By using imagery, Hurst is able to give the reader a clear picture of what Doodle’s deformities appear like. The reader also gets to learn clear and cruel thoughts Doodle’s brother has in relation to Doodle, which is saddening.

The author’s use of flashback is most effective. First, Hurst employs it to evince the narrator's actions of guilt in retrospect to Doodle. The narrator recollects a scene where he had done a cruel injustice to Doodle where he has felt “ within [him]” something he has seen only from others before “ a knot of cruelty borne from the stream of love” (557). In addition, there is an admission of his

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.

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

dd At the beginning of the story Doodles brother, the narrator, recalls that “It was the clove of seasons, Summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born”(9). The literal meaning to the clove of seasons is the in between of seasons but in this story it represents uncertainty for what's about to happen and an end to happy days. At first the brother was excited to be getting a new brother and someone to play with and so was the rest of the family to be getting a new addition to the family. That happiness soon ends when Doodle is born with a head disproportionate to his “tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man”(9). Doodles brother calls him a disappointment and the whole family thinks that he is going to die, except for his aunt Nicey that remains hopeful throughout. Nobody knows

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.

In the same fashion, the swamp was also used as a symbol to enhance the theme. The swamp was where the boys could go to feel at home in the story. So much happens in the swamp, from Doodle learning how to walk, to the final moments of Doodle’s life, that in the end it represents a safe haven. This symbol enhances the theme because during the time that Doodle was alive, neither one of them really appreciated the beauty of it. However, once the protagonist couldn’t go out there with Doodle anymore, he realized how precious it was to both of them. Arguably the biggest symbol in this short story, the scarlet ibis symbolizes Doodle. After the scarlet ibis dies, the text says, “Sadly, we all looked back at the bird. A scarlet ibis! How many miles it had traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree” (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2003, p. 5). This quote directly relates to Doodle because after coming so far in his physical and mental abilities, it all comes to an end faster than anyone could

In the short story ‘The Scarlet Ibis’, James Hurst, the author, writes of a tale of two brothers who live in Eastern North Carolina in the early 1900’s. One of the brothers was considered ‘normal’, while the other was an invalid, born to achieve nothing. In the story Doodle, the invalid brother, faces the challenges of learning to walk and speak, with his older brother. Throughout the story of ‘The Scarlet Ibis’, the author, James Hurst, uses figurative language to create a sense of regret and redemption from a memory of past times.

The use of symbolism shows how he is frail because the author uses a weak scarlet ibis to represent him. For example, Doodles reaction to the dying bird shows how sensitive he is. This shows that Doodle is very easy to get to and also shows his vulnerability. This is because Doodle has a cruel, bossy, and healthy brother. In addition, the author uses the