Motifs In The Scarlet Ibis

When a person feels remorseful, he feels guilty from actions he has done. This leads to self-reflection and then ultimately to one’s admission of his mistakes. In the short story "The Scarlet Ibis" written by James Hurst, the author employs the elements of flashback and foreshadowing to manifest the narrator's emotion of remorse surrounding Doodle's life and death. Hurst conveys the use of flashback in the story when the narrator is constantly having recollections of his actions, which evokes the remorse he feels surrounding these actions. Foreshadowing is utilized by setting descriptions and symbolisms related to Doodle's death and to also to convey the narrator's feelings surrounding death.

In the story, James Hurst is foreshadowing the death of Doodle. Foreshadowing is when the author signals the reader about a future event. According to Hurst, “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” (462). This quote describes graveyard flowers and we can infer that a person has died. While Brother is reflecting on how he treated Doodle, he realizes that his pride got the best of him and he feels regret and sorrow. Another quote that represents foreshadowing is when Aunt Nicey says, “Dead birds is bad luck” (Hurst 474). This quote shows that when the bird died, Doodle would die shortly after. The bird and Doodle had

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”.

Brother was a mean boy who didn't like his younger brother at first because he might not be all there. Brother said. “ It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one that possibly was not all there was unbearable. So I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow.” then again he was mean to Doodle. “One day I took him up to the barn loft and showed him his casket, telling him how we all had believed he would die.” Brother also admitted he was mean.”There is within me (and with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by a stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to Doodle.”

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” 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

The metaphors and similes in The Scarlet Ibis create the drama and ironies that effect the characters. “For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis, from the heresy of rain” (6) The Scarlet ibis. The Ibis most prominently symbolizes Doodle because both were weak and beautiful in their own way and taken down by a storm, the storms that represent something else. Brother conveys the storms, like the hurricane and the ibis, Brother is Doodle’s storm, the one that makes him weak. He is like the storm because he takes Doodle so far in strength and distance, but leaves him, like the storm left the Ibis. Whether or not it was intentional or conscious. Brining the story further out the two brothers, symbolize mankind as a whole and the misunderstanding that causes war and silent loathing. There are more simple representations in The Scarlet Ibis, for example on the first page; “The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking the names of our dead.” (1) The Scarlet Ibis. The graveyard flowers symbolize memories and that things always come back. The symbolism create this atmosphere and struggles between the characters that accrue the

By examining loss, we learn that humans can feel loss when they do selfish things to others. For example the narrator in the story “The Scarlet Ibis” thinks that his brother is weak and would not survive very long because of how Doodle was born . The narrator feels ashamed to have Doodle as a brother. Then got tired of seeing his brother struggle and tries to teach him how to walk and when doing so the narrator feels achieved. “They did not know what I did it for myself that pride, whose slave I walk because I spoke to me louder than voices, and that Doodle walk because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” This means that Doodle and the narrator relationship starts to build up but later turns into destructive. This happen when the

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.

At first Doodle’s brother becomes angered that the plans to teach Doodle failed, then, in his rage, he leaves Doodle behind during the storm. Doodle’s death comes to his brother in full force, making him extremely sorrowful. A second instance in which cruelty is brought to light through the narrator occurs when Doodle is forced to touch his coffin. Many older brothers pick on their younger siblings, but as seen in this scene, Doodle’s brother takes cruelty to a whole new level.

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”

It is impossible to find a family that is problem free and does not go through its ups and downs. Seasons often marks a progress, here it not only sets the way for Doodles progress of becoming like a normal boy, but it is used as a way to show the growth of the sibling relationship between the two brothers. Seasons and weather play an important role in setting the tone and mood of the story. An example of the motif of seasons and weather is seen in the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst as doodles progress goes along with each season. This motif is used to develop the relationship between Doodle and his brother as evident through the clove of seasons, summer, and storms.

The narrator regrets how he pushed Doodle far beyond his limits. Now that the Brother is older, he knows how pride can affect him. “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.”(4) When the Brother got Doodle to stand, he was confident in Doodle to accomplish any physical movement. So he expected more and more out of Doodle. But he didn’t know the pain and the danger of trying to exceed the limit of one’s body. Now, after all the years have passed by, the narrator realize that his love for Doodle. “But sometimes (like right now), as I sit in the cool, green-draped parlor, the grindstone begins to turn, and time with all its changes is ground away--and I remember Doodle.”(1) The years have taken away the cruelty and selfishness in the Brother’s early year and he was sorry for how he forced and threatened Doodle. The narrator looks over the cruel moments he had with Doodle and blames Doodle’s death on himself. “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all the other voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.”(5) The voice here is very regretful of his sins, and wants to fix what he had already

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.

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.