Easton Jackson/ 5b / October, 7, 2013

'The Scarlet Ibis' and Symbolism

In the short story the 'Scarlet Ibis' James Hurst used symbolism to convey the
themes of his short story and the foreshadowing of the narrator's brother Doodle.
Symbolism revealed the themes of the dangers of pride, and that disappointment in
someone can ultimately hurt them in the end.
Hurst used symbolism for foreshadowing Doodle's death that was indirectly
caused by the narrator. In the beginning of the story the narrator describes the scene
almost like a graveyard with a garden over growing with weeds, graveyard owers and
an empty nest like an 'empty cradle'. Later in the story the narrator describes a time
when he left his brother close to 'death' when he makes his brother touch his own
casket and then try's to leave ( his brother even says 'don't leave me brother' which he
repeats later on before he dies). As the story progresses it turns to summer were there
was no rain and everything ' curls up and dies', there is also a storm on its way. Lastly
the most important foreshadowing is the scarlet ibis. The bird is described just as
Doodle is, slender and weak, when the narrator nd it, it dies. The father even says that
it had traveled so far to die in their yard, just as Doodle had gone so far to make his
brother happy just to die.
Disappointment was a prominent theme from the beginning of the story, and symbolism
was an important factor in conveying it. When Doodle is characterized the rst thing that
is said was that he was a disappointment to his family. His birth name is William
Armstrong which was only 'good for a grave stone', he would never live up to it. Even
his nickname, Doodle, made him out to be a disappointment because no one 'expects
much from someone named Doodle'. In the end the narrator has to learn that
disappointment can hurt someone he cares about. When Doodle does not live up to his
brother's expectations the narrator feels a very bitter disappointment in him, and doodle
can knows this. This metaphorically is the reason doodle dies because he couldn't make
his brother happy and was to tired to keep trying.
Another theme that is conveyed with symbolism is that pride is ' a seed that
bears two vines life and death'. When he describes his plan to make doodle normal as
'a pot of gold at the end of the summer' the pot of gold is something unattainable, and
he only reaches toward it because of pride. His pride, later on in the story, separates
and hurts his brother beyond repair. His pride makes him run away from his brother in
the rain despite his pleas of 'brother, don't leave me' their was a wall of rain dividing
them. Later he tries to break down the wall of pride when he goes back for him, but he
nds his brother dead and it's to late even though he's trying to protect his brother from
the ' Hersey of the rain'.