Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Scarlet Ibis

In the story “The Scarlet Ibis”, the author uses many different literary devices to convey the grim theme that underlies this story. This story conveys the brother of Doodle and his feelings towards him and all the different emotions he is feeling because of Doodle. As the story progresses, the reader starts to see why he feels this shame towards Doodle and what he plans to do to try and replace the shame with pride and accomplishment. In “The Scarlet Ibis,” author James Hurst uses character thoughts, foreshadowing, and flashbacks to enhance the grim mood of this story. One way the author displays the grim mood in this story is by adding lot’s of character thoughts. In this moment in the story, Brother starts his journey in trying to teach

Towards the beginning of the story, it was made known that Doodle had a great fear of abandonment and being left alone. “Doodle was frightened of being left. “Don’t go leave me, Brother,” he cried, and he leaned toward the coffin” (line 112). The reader may notice the foreshadowing in action in this paragraph. The concepts of death and abandonment are introduced at this point. This all adds to the end of the story when Brother does leave Doodle. This shows how strong brothers feelings were that he put doodle through his worst fear after he let his emotions get the best of him. In this next part of the story, the family is eating lunch when they notice a red bird in their yard. When they take a closer look, they realize the bird was dying. “A scarlet ibis! How many miles it had traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree” (line 314). In this line, the mention of the color red/scarlet is brought up. The color red not only has lots of foreshadowing, but lot’s of repetition in this story. The color is symbolized with death. Through all of the foreshadowing, this really helped the reader make connections throughout the

Throughout this story, the reader can start to pick up on what it m`t feel like for brother during this story. At this moment, Brother starts to train Doodle to do all of these things doctors never would have imagined. “It seemed so hopeless from the beginning that it’s a miracle I didn’t give up.” (line 141) Brother is looking back and remembering what he did to Doodle and what the process was like. The tone on which this part of the story is told makes the reader feel Brother's thoughts of regret and sadness while looking back on what he remembers of Doodle. As the rainstorm was building up, so were Brother's emotions. All he could think about was the shame he felt towards Doodle and what other people would think of him. In the beginning of this story, Brother is sitting by Doodles grave and thinking back at what had happened. “I sit in the cool, green-draped parlor, the grindstone begins to turn, and time with all its changes is ground away—and I remember Doodle” (line 13). The reader may observe from this comment that Brother's emotions haven't changed at all since the occurrence. He is unhappy, angry, and regretful about what he did and still carries grief. Hurst tells the story in the form of a flashback, showing the reader how Brother still regrets his actions and longs to go back in time and change