Scarlet Ibis Theme Essay

The Scarlet Ibis, written by James Hurst, is a short story that is personally one of my favorites because of its themes of guilt, selfishness, and pride. It contains a multitude of different symbols and uses of foreshadowing throughout to make the story more interesting that makes you think of a deeper meanings behind the story. Some of the different examples of Hurst’s use of foreshadowing and using symbols in the story are doodle’s brother thinking of killing him with a pillow, the coffin, it was a redbird that died, and the Scarlet Ibis. They all have deep meanings, the coffin being a symbol of doodle being face to face with death; foreshadowing his death perhaps (for example), but the main idea of these two points would be the use of the Scarlet Ibis’ death in the story. This was a perfect example of foreshadowing in the story because the beautiful bird all of a sudden died, which is an obvious foreshadowing of Doodle

His brother only thinks of himself and only cares of his own achievements and success, making him not care so much for his brother which leads him to the guilt in the end of the story from what happened and what he did to his brother. The Scarlet Ibis connects with this theme because the Scarlet Ibis is a representation of Doddle in the story, foreshadowing what will happen to Doodle and how his brother is left with the feeling of guilt from Doodle’s death (the theme of guilt). In conclusion, the story uses many different forms of symbols and foreshadowing, some listed, to help get the reader's thinking and to create another meaning to the story besides what’s just literally written down in the text. They both help connect to the main theme of the story and in the end, instead of making the story a boring book required for class, it becomes a piece of literary art because of its multitudes of meanings and beauty from inside the