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Foreshadowing In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

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According to the 2012 US Census, about one in five people are living with disability. To some, it is just a number, one that does not affect them, but to the families of these people, it’s something that is imbedded in every day of their lives. That’s how it is for the protagonist of “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. The protagonist hopes for a brother, but when William Armstrong is born, he is born severely disabled. The protagonist was so desperate for a normal brother that he set out to train his brother to get over everything his disability prevented him from doing. In the end, however, he pushes his brother too hard, and Doodle dies. This is a story that uses foreshadowing to hint to the reader about pride, and how it is both a wonderful, and terrible thing.
The speaker wanted an able-bodied brother desperately, and having a crippled brother tore into him, “...so [he] began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow,” (1), until his brother, Doodle, smiled at him, and proved that he was indeed all there. The narrator was six, and for the time being, that smile from Doodle was enough. One of the first major foreshadowing events, and clues to the narrator’s pride occurred …show more content…

It uses foreshadowing as a way to let the reader learn the signs that pride has lost control. As demonstrated perfectly by the narrator, the prideful, for the most part, only fear losing their pride. The desperation to hold onto it, instead of thinking of things rationally and accepting that there are limits, is what caused the narrator to lose Doodle, despite all of the warnings and clues given as foreshadowing. Pride is both a wonderful, and terrible thing, because without it, there would be no ambition, but too much of it destroys what those ambitions brought. Just how the ibis was carried down in the brute of the storm, Doodle was brought down in the rush of the narrator’s

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