Preview

Innocence In The Scarlet Ibis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
277 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Innocence In The Scarlet Ibis
In the story, the Scarlet Ibis, “Doodle” was born red and shriveled, with a big head and tiny body, and was physically and mentally disabled. Over time, his brother helps him accomplish things never thought possible. Doodles innocence was lost in a storm. His brother was redeemed when he thought of “Doodle” before himself.
The paradise lost is when innocence is lost in the “Ibis” and the Bible. In the “Ibis” “Doodle” is the innocence and when he dies, the innocence is lost. The innocence of the Bible is lost when Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The sin of the protagonist, which is the brother, is pride. The brother states “Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.”

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The scarlet ibis is an amazing t story written by James Hurst . A story written back in the day.it will have you confused but intrigued. In this story there are two characters there is the brother he talks about how much he wanted a younger brother, in the beginning, he was happy when his parents told him he was going to have a baby brother but then fate had a different choice for brother that was the story begins. Doodle was born everyone thought he was going to die no one believed he was going to live but there aunt she helped deliver him no one believed he was going to live because he was born with a disease known as hydrocephalus which meant he couldn't move anything but his head . his own brother was so disappointed that he had a brother…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    If you think back to your earliest memories, who do you recall being your main caregiver? Most people would remember a feminine figure, whether it be your mother, grandmother or another female relative. Commonly, females take responsibility over young children. In some cases though, a male in the family will take over this nurturing position, much like in The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, in which a young boy decides to help his disabled brother learn to walk. In the text, the reader discovers that males are able to take responsibility for a kid when a female chooses not to and leave the child the same as if a woman were to raise it.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Doodle, a younger disabled brother in James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis”, is uniquely symbolic to the beautiful red bird seen dying in his yard. The scarlet ibis, like Doodle, both are exotic in many wonderful ways. For one instance, the ibis is beautiful, while Doodle has a creative imagination. The ibis is a rare phenomenal bird, likewise, Doodle is an extraordinary boy. He is sensitive, like when he sees Old Woman Swamp. “His eyes were round with wonder as he gazed about him, and his little hands began to stroke the rubber grass. Then he began to cry. “It’s so pretty, so pretty, pretty, pretty.” (318). Despite the Ibis and Doodle’s magnificent traits, both ibis and Doodle suffer from a horrible storm. The ibis faced a storm that blew it all…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Scarlet Ibis Symbolism

    • 190 Words
    • 1 Page

    In the short story “Scarlet Ibis” James Hurst shows the scarlet ibis a symbol for Doodle by describing how both bodies were in death broken and on the ground. In the story a storm brought in the scarlet ibis from the tropics. The bird falls off the tree hits the ground and dies Aunt Nicey said “Dead birds is bad luck… especially red dead birds!” this sysmbolies that aunt Nicey knows that it’s not a good thing to have thing to have a red bird die in front of your house. Also, both doodle and the red ibis die with the same devastating was “it’s long graceful; neck jerked twice into an S, and then straightened out. And the bird was still. Then brother leaves doodle running after him in the storm brother comes back to find that doodle “had been…

    • 190 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death can usually be illustrated by the color red, hints the “Scarlet Ibis”. The “Scarlet Ibis” is based off of the cruel theme of death. Doodle dies in this reading, but before the story portrays his death, the piece gives many hints and clues that he is going to pass away soon. Hurst does a great job in the “Scarlet Ibis” of showing strength, the strength of doodle. Though Doodle overcame a lot of barriers, his strength could hold up no more at the end. He was a clear of the theme of this writing, the harsh, coldblooded theme of death.…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In James Hurst's “The Scarlet Ibis”, a tragic tale is told about the Narrator’s younger, disabled brother who he teaches to walk. The whole story has a sad nostalgic shadow cast across it due to many symbols, motifs, and foreshadowing. Doodle, the young boy was born in a cual and wasn’t thought to survive he looked very strange when he was born, “ He seemed all head with a tiny body, which was red and shriveled like an old man’s” The mention of red is throughout the story leading up to the appearance of the ibis, as the story continues on we see more possibilities of how Doodle is going to meet his end. Red and death are brought up in contrast to happy memories of Doodle, almost representing the ibis before it arrives. The ibis appears out…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Doodle's Death

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages

    All the narrator wanted was a brother. The narrator got his wish but was not grateful and now Doodle is gone. The narrator regrets his decision. Doodle wasn't like most boys. The narrator expected more of him. Eventually Doodle was pushed to hard and withered away. The scar of ibis, Doodle, the narrator, and the old woman's swamp. The author is James Hurst. The brother caused Doodle early death by encouraging him to run and get to hot and also causing his heart rate to go high also, he was cold because of the rain from the storm.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “The Scarlet Ibis” is about a kid named Doodle and his brother. “The Scarlet Ibis” is about a normal family that had a kid who was born and at the age of five he still wasn't able to walk. The older brother always takes care of him. The older brother calls his little brother Doodle because he crawled like a doodlebug. The older brother went through many troubles to help his little brother Doodle. They are different in many ways and are similar at the same time.…

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is a saying that goes “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone”. In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the narrator’s feelings towards his younger brother, Doodle, changes after Doodle’s death. The narrator, who we only know as Brother, treats Doodle with cruelty throughout their childhood because of Doodle’s physical disabilities. Brother, afraid that he will be taunted at school for having an impaired brother, starts training and teaching Doodle physical activities. The Brother’s feelings change from childhood hatred to regret as he reminisces about the events that caused his abhorrence to start.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story The Scarlet Ibis also demonstrates how the narrator’s one choice of leaving his brother in the woods is regrettable. School is starting soon for Doodle and the narrator wants to teach Doodle to run so he will “fit” in. But, when Doodle is not able to accomplish these activities in time the narrator becomes spiteful. The narrator believes Doodle being not being able to run is in his head and purposely runs faster and ahead of Doodle to make Doodle strive to catch up with him. Soon after Doodle collapses, instead of turning around to help him, the narrator chooses to leave him behind in the forest. But, the spitefulness of the narrator eventually subsides and he goes back to help Doodle. When the narrator is finally in view of…

    • 265 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The quote, “The knowledge that Doodle’s and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awakened. I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us” is where it comes to Brother’s attention that his plan to train Doodle ultimately failed, and in a quick moment of cruelty and selfishness based on his bitter pride, he left Doodle to die by leaving him behind in a thunderstorm (Hurst 475). Brother, in the end of the story, leaving Doodle behind to be dead because of his hurt pride in knowing that his plan to train him failed is ultimately symbolism for how one’s pride can eventually bring down others. Since Brother’s pride in himself was based around his success in training Doodle to be an ideal sibling, Hurst further exemplifies his overall message in the story by having Brother kill his beloved sibling Doodle out of selfish pride. All in all, in “The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst uses motifs about Brother bringing Doodle to death as a way to symbolize his message that pride can lead to the downfall of…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Even though Brother saw Doodle as a crazy brother that you would see in your dreams he was mean to him by making him do things he didn't want to. Too much pride had ridden over Brother as he did his best to change Doodle into an ordinary boy for he was ashamed of him even if it meant he was cruel and harsh in the process. Another example is after Brother had finally taught Doodle to successfully walk on his own. The narrator says “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother”(3). What Brother had done for Doodle was great, but Brother had been mean to him in the process of teaching Doodle how to do anything like a normal boy. The narrator had too much pride for himself instead of his brother that everything he did was for himself simply because he was embarrassed. The short story “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst displays that too much pride has us treat our loved ones in a cruel…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    He regularly seems to have outbursts of anger or disappointment towards his brother, but keeps them hidden. It is especially hard for him when he knew Doodle has failed and needed him. Even though he is still young and naive himself he gets over his frivolous streaks and feels guilt and love for Doodle. “I hadn’t run too far before I became tired, and the flood of childish spite evanesced as well. I stopped and waited for Doodle. . . . I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain” (Hurst). The narrator displays one of his only acts of remorse and is filled with sadness when he realizes what has become of his weaker brother. It seems that he has truly felt love for Doodle and cared about him and it is a shame that it is too late for Doodle to know.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “...I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind, cry out,”Brother, Brother, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!” That was the last thing the narrator heard from his brother Doodle. The story starts off with the narrator at the time of the first World War, living in North Carolina and has a little brother that is crippled. Everyone thought that the little brother, Doodle, would die. But he survived. The narrator taught Doodle to walk and was training him so he could go to school and be a normal kid. But then a Scarlet Ibis comes to their house after a hurricane had hit. A Scarlet Ibis lives in South America and had came all the way over to North Carolina. The bird was also crippled and fell out of their tree, and had died. Later that day, the narrator…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    First in “The Scarlet Ibis” the bird the scarlet Ibis represents Doodle, the little boy everyone thought would die. The bird was a symbol for Doodle because both of them seem out of place and feel like they do not belong. Both had died and had red related somehow to their deaths. Doodle’s brother had said, “Limply, he fell backwards onto the Earth. He had been bleeding from the mouth, and his neck and the front of his shirt were stained a brilliant Red” (Hurst 395). Also “The bird’s arrival on the wings of a freak-storm raises the questions: What is Doodle’s natural environment? Where is his flock? The answers are not given exactly but are suggested symbolically” (Robinson 1). This symbol is important because it tells the readers that Doodle was kind of out of place but was a very strong person.…

    • 918 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays