...summer was dead but autumn was yet to be born, that the ibis lit in the bleeding tree. The flower garden was stained with rotting brown magnolia petals, and ironweeds grew rank amid the purple phlox” (Hurst 416). As summer dies the pretty plants begin to die as well, and it leaves a beautiful sadness in the air. James Hurst uses words like ‘rank’ ‘dead’, ‘bleeding’, ‘stained’, and ‘rotting’, words like these wouldn’t set a happy tone for the start of any story. The narrator in “The Scarlet Ibis” only wanted his brother, Doodle, to fit in. Unfortunately, he would always stick out because he couldn’t get too tired, too hot, and too cold. Doodle died from over exhaustion, same...
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...Scarlet Ibis Paragraph In the short story, The Scarlet Ibis, James Hurst uses symbolism of the colour red to foreshadow Doodle’s death. The colour red used various times throughout the text, symbolizes death and destruction. Early on in the first sentence, the author inaugurates this symbol of red and death by way of the “...bleeding tree.” , amongst other examples such as “...for it (the dead scarlet ibis) lay on the earth like a broken vase of red flowers.” , (1) (9). Therefore, the author is trying to establish a direct correlation between the colour red and death. This foreshadows Doodle’s death because at the end of the story, Doodle was bleeding from his mouth, with his shirt stained red and a vermillion neck. Furthermore, the fact that...
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