The Scarlet Ibis (Symbol Analysis)
This tale tells the story and relationship of two brothers and how they change during the story to end up in a tragic end. The plot of the story is shaped around a very clever symbol, The Scarlet Ibis. The Ibis surrounds the plot of the story and its actions are used as foreshadow and symbol to Doodle’s. The Scarlet Ibis in the story is linked with Doodle in a very clever way, which collaborates to the plot and mainly to the characterization in the short story.
The Ibis has many similarities with one of the main character of the story, Doodle. Just like father said “It lives in the tropics – South America to Florida. A storm must have brought it here," (pg 424) that shows us that the Ibis is not native from where they find him and he is not supposed to be there. Doodle shares this same characteristic, he as well, is different to the world because of his health conditions, we also have this feeling that he doesn’t belong there just like the ibis and he was supposed to be dead since the beginning of his life. Another characteristic both of them share is that they have overcome many problems in their lives which lead to their tragic death “How many miles it had traveled to die like this in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree” (pg 424). The ibis flew all the way from his native habitat to where the family lives, he overcame many problems during the storm and just like doodle he went through a lot of things that made him weaker and more fragile. Doodle also overcame many problems he faced during the story and was also put through a lot of situations where he had to overexert himself in order to satisfy Brother’s necessities. Both boy and bird died in a tragic way, “alone” and after being put through more than they could
The Ibis has many similarities with one of the main character of the story, Doodle. Just like father said “It lives in the tropics – South America to Florida. A storm must have brought it here," (pg 424) that shows us that the Ibis is not native from where they find him and he is not supposed to be there. Doodle shares this same characteristic, he as well, is different to the world because of his health conditions, we also have this feeling that he doesn’t belong there just like the ibis and he was supposed to be dead since the beginning of his life. Another characteristic both of them share is that they have overcome many problems in their lives which lead to their tragic death “How many miles it had traveled to die like this in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree” (pg 424). The ibis flew all the way from his native habitat to where the family lives, he overcame many problems during the storm and just like doodle he went through a lot of things that made him weaker and more fragile. Doodle also overcame many problems he faced during the story and was also put through a lot of situations where he had to overexert himself in order to satisfy Brother’s necessities. Both boy and bird died in a tragic way, “alone” and after being put through more than they could