Symbols In The Scarlet Ibis

The short story "The scarlet ibis " written by James Hurst foreshadows The death of doodle by the constant use of rhetorical phrases relating to death in the opening of the story with his word choice and dictation. "Summer was dead, but autumn had not yet been born the last graveyard flowers were blooming and the smell of them reminded us of the dead" (315). The author conveys death to us by stating the end of summer, and the beginning of autumn which brings sadness and death to living things which are words picked out to create a relation to death. The author also plays with our emotion by The choice of the words, graveyard and fall, which are seasons And things that commune to the passing and change of time which ultimately brings
the end of life. "The grindstone stand where the bleeding tree stood just outside the kitchen door and now an oriole sing in the elm his song seems to die up in the leaves a silvery dust"(316). The use of grindstone and the word bleeding, which to us dictates pain distraught and abrasive relations. The song dies up in the leaves a silvery dust, shows us the life of people dying away and being cremated whilst being thrown into the air at the end of their journey that they may land up in a tree. The choice of words in the short stories, such as autumn deaths grindstone and graveyard conveys the foreshadowing of doodles death in the beginning of the story. Furthermore in the story,the feelings of his brother are truly conveyed. "He was Born when I was six and from the outset disappointment, all head with a tiny body just like an old man skin all shriveled and red"(317). This quote stated by the brother showed us his strong disappointment in having a brother who was not like the others, with an unbalanced body and appearance similar to an old man's. the age difference between his brother and doodle, shows his brother was more grown than doodle at the time of his birth and probably wanted a brother he could play and relate with a brother that wasn't so fragile.
"Everybody thought he was going to die so daddy built him a little mahogany coffin but he didn't die so mom and dad named him William Armstrong which was like tying a big tail to a smaller kite such a name sounds good on a tombstone"(317). By the statement of the father building of a coffin shows us the loss of hope on doodle to survive, they didn't expect anything to produce an outcome, but when he survived his parent decided to name him William Armstrong which was seen as excessive by his brother. the name William Armstrong was like tying a big tail to a smaller kite shows us how the brother sees doodle as fragile and frail it was no use to give him a name with such significant meaning he felt he wasn't worthy enough to live up to the expectation so he named him doodle a name in which no one perceives an outcome. The use of the metaphorical phrase it was like "tying a big tail to a smaller kite" (317)shows us how the family perceives doodle and the building of a coffin even before doodles death shows us the unforeseen punishment the parents were willing to face even before it was
time.

However Further into the beginning of the story we see doodles brother growing hate towards him. "It was bad enough having an invalid brother having one who is possibly being not all always there was unbearable, so he began to make plans to kill him By smothering him with a pillow"(317). The quote told by the brother shows us his growing hate, cause he always wanted a brother, but now he finally got one who was of no use to him so he decided to commence with plans to kill him. He uses the word smothering him with a pillow, which is an awful way to take a life cause you feel the people struggle to grasp for breath and at the end you finally get the peace of the person's last breath. "Crawling backwards made him look like a doodlebug so I began to call him doodle because nobody expects anything from a person named doodle".(317). He named his brother doodle, with feelings of disappointment and used his oppressive feelings to give him a name he felt comfortable with. He also says no one expects anything from a guy named doodle, so he won't let them down Like the way he let him down by not meeting his standard of How a brother should be. As was previously stated in the short story "the scarlet ibis " by James Hurst foreshadows the death of doodle by his word choice, repetition and implementation of irony in the leading events of doodles death.