The Scarlet Ibis Symbolism Essay

In a person’s life, many situations transpire and make them feel pride over one’s self. Readers can see this in the short story,” The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. “In his spare time Hurst wrote short stories and plays, but The Scarlet Ibis was the only work of his that become famous “(gradesaver.com)”. In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis” James Hurst uses red to symbolize warning, death, and guilt to show the change the older brother goes through, as he takes care of Doodle.
The first instance when red is used, is to express warning and the older brother’s attitude, is at Doodle’s birth. The quote “He seemed all head with a tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man’s”, Gave the reader a view of how fragile Doodle’s body is. They thought at first, he was not going to make it, but he ended up surviving. When the mom explains to the older brother, Doodle is different and will not be able to do things that other kids do, he is then disappointed at having Doodle as his brother. He wants to be able to do things with Doodle, like he would be able to do with the other kids,

The quote said “he was looking up into the tree”. “It’s a great big red bird” he called”. Later after Doodle said that, the bird fell through the tree and died. While everyone looked at the Scarlet Ibis, the reader can see a similarity in the bird and Doodle. They were both weak and Doodle was born a shade of red, as the Ibis is. The older brother likely had the realization it could have been Doodle dead in that moment, instead of the ibis. Later, Doodle buried the Ibis, being the only one that wanted to do so. Even in Doodle’s state he finished burying the bird, when the reader could see a similarity in the beginning of the story in reverse on how they thought they would be burying Doodle in the coffin they built for him. Instead he is giving the Ibis a