Foreshadowing In The Scarlet Ibis

Ashley Hannam
Catherine Paquette
Language and Literature 10
April 6th, 2023
“The Scarlet Ibis”
A story riddled with prideful ignorance, The Scarlet Ibis, written by James Hurst, is a piece about a young boy named William Armstrong, born in between the times of 1911-1918, with what should’ve been a fatal heart condition, and his brother, the narrator. This story encapsulates the reader into how pride can ruin lives through color imagery, symbolism and foreshadowing. It is obvious that in this story, pride, heartlessness, and William’s disability is the turning point for the family and leads them down a dark path of grief, and that no effort is made to alter the warning signs. The narrator seems to have deep regrets looking back on this story,

However, the turning point seems to be when William Armstrong, aka Doodle, is born. The narrator explains the conditions of his birth, that “Doodle was born when I was seven and was . . . a disappointment. He seemed all head, with a tiny body that was red and shriveled like an old man's. Everybody thought he was going to die.”(1). This shows that Doodle is letting down his brother, and even family, through his newfound disability; a heart condition, which should’ve been fatal. This triggers the narrator to have a heartless attitude towards

His brother has been taking him out for some time now to Old Woman's Swamp, a swamp located near their residence, during summer and late spring. "We’d drop our jewels into the stream and watch them float away toward the sea.(3)" They make flower crowns, boats, and anything they can with their hands and quickly dispose of, referring to them as jewels and things of high value.
Doodle shows gratitude quite often, and shows a sort of willingness to please those around him, even at the cost of his happiness. This is shown when his brother displays his casket, the one Doodle was meant to be buried in at birth. His hand, trembling, reached out, and when he touched the casket, he screamed.(4)" His brother is very uncaring, and dismisses it as nothing. Doodle is, however, willing to do this if it means his sibling does not leave him.
This willingness and drive to be a people-pleaser is a factor of his death. “Doodle said he was too tired to swim. . . I put the oars in place and made Doodle row back against the tide(5).” However tired Doodle might have been, his brother made him row against the tide of an oncoming storm, ultimately overworking his heart, and killing him in the race to beat the thunderstorm that loomed