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'.