...James Hurst, the depressing mood is supported by the literary elements setting and symbolism. In the story, the narrator’s brother Doodle, is born with both mental and physical problems. Because of this, from the start, the narrator is angry and embarrassed of his brother and only becomes more ashamed as the years go on. Doodle’s medical issues did not affect the narrator’s decision on teaching him how to go about a normal person's daily activities like walking or swimming… the narrator just wanted a regular brother. Later in the story Doodle discovers a red bird and watches it fall to its death, much like Doodle would do in the end of the story. The story ends with the narrator running away from his brother in spite of him, leaving him alone in a storm to die (just like the...
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...to die but instead, is born with disabilities. Over the course of the story, he learns to do things like how to walk and play because of his older brother’s help. One day his older brother pushed him too far and caused the boy to die. James Hurst uses symbolism to make “The Scarlet Ibis” more interesting. In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis”, the author makes the bird symbolize Doodle. The bird and Doodle have similar deaths because they are both pushed beyond what they are capable of doing. You can tell from when the family watches the scarlet ibis on the tree, “At that moment, the bird began to flutter but the wings were uncoordinated” (Hurst 602). This shows...
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...good example of symbolism. Symbolism is the use of symbols, like the crow, to represent ideas, like death. Crows are seen as a sign of death to some. Symbolism is used in everyday life, from literature to even when we talk. The story “Once Upon a Time” written by Nadine gordimer had good use of symbolism. In the story, a wealthy family lived in a very poor and angered place. They were worried about the safety of their little boy so they decided to have a wall put up to protect themselves. In the end though, the wall didn’t protect them. An excerpt from the book, ”He dragged a ladder to the wall, the shining coiled tunnel was just wide enough for his little body to creep in, and with the first fixing of its razor teeth in his knees and hands and head he screamed and struggled deeper into its tangles……Then the man and his wife burst wildly into the garden…….the alarms screamed while the bleeding mass of the little boy was hacked out of the security coil with...
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...One symbol that Hurst used through the text would the bleeding tree. The bleeding tree symbolised the color red, and represented his brother because he was all red, and bloody when he died.The narrator expects Doodle to swim, row and run. Like short-lived, stressed trees, Doodle eventually bleeds to his death. Hurst writes, “A scarlet ibis! How many miles it had traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree” (Hurst ). This evidence supports my thesis statement because the bleeding tree symbolizes how sad Doodle’s death was, and how doodle was so red at the time of his death. Another example of symbolism in “The Scarlet Ibis” is the scarlet ibis itself. The scarlet ibis symbolizes the color red and also represents Doodle at his time of death. red represents bad luck, as Doodle’s aunt said. Also the scarlet ibis died from exhaustion as well as doodle and they both died in front of a tree. Hurst writes, “Dead birds is bad luck,” said Aunt Nicey, poking her head from the kitchen door. "Specially red dead birds!" (Hurst ) He also wrote, “I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain” (Hurst ). This also supports my thesis statement because symbolism was one of the ways he created a depressing tone, and he symbolised the scarlet ibis with Doodles death because both of them died in front of a tree from over...
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...The scarlet ibis is a deep and meaningful book about a disabled kid that is push to his limit and is then taken out of his limits the result of which is death. The Scarlet Ibis it has a incredible amount of symbolism, imagery, and similes. In addition you have a touching story that will touch many hearts and minds. Symbolism is one of the main parts in this book it is engraved in it the title the Scarlet Ibis, the scarlet ibis is a bird that originates from Florida. When taken out of its natural habitat the bird will die. This symbolizes Doodle who when taken out of his natural habitat he well die. The color red is also an important key symbol in the story and can be seen throughout the story. The color red has always symbolized death. This...
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...Jane Eyre is a spectacular book written by Charlotte Brontë which allows many readers to connect and feel as if they are part of the book. Charlotte Brontë uses various types of styles in her writing making reading feel like home. The main theme of the book is trying to find a place where you feel loved. Jane is on a quest to find love, family, and a place where she feels she belongs. Jane’s life events are written in chronological order. Through this process, we watched Jane Eyre come from a traumatic childhood and turning into an independent, strong women. Some of many different styles found throughout the reading are symbolism, syntax, and imagery. The contribution to the main theme of the book is tremendous giving it more meaning. Each symbolism...
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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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... he crawled backward as if he were in reverse and couldn't change gears…. Crawling backward made him look like a doodlebug, so I began to call him Doodle" "He seemed all head, with a tiny body which was red and shrivelled like an old man's." This quote shows that people didn't believe that Doodle could have a chance of living because of his physical conditions which again shows that people thought right away that he is not the same as everybody else. Scarlet Ibis and Doodle were very similar because of their physical disease and life story. During the plot of the story Scarlet Ibis dies, Doodle goes to him and not long after the small boy dies as well. "Sadly, we all looked back at the bird. A scarlet ibis! How many miles it had traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree." we can see that the scarlet ibis had a long route to travel and because of the tiredness that the bird felt he mentally fell and died. Also, the use of words (bleeding tree) gives you a feeling of sadness because the symbolism of blood is usually associated with death and bad things. "Dead birds is bad luck," said Aunt Nicey, poking her head from the kitchen door. "Especially red dead birds!" The symbolism of the red color can represent love but in this type of situation the color red has a meaning of death blood and the use of this word makes a connection with another quote from this story with the bleeding tree. Another idea that this story helps to create a theme is that his brother...
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...Sneaky Symbols “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is full of abstract symbolism to help the audience understand the passage clearer. This story is about a disappointed boy who finds out his brother is invalid. The baby by was thought to die at birth, but he ends up living. They named him William Armstrong, but the brother believed that that was a terrible name for a disabled child. Doodle, William’s nickname his brother gave him, could not walk. The boy was determined to teach Doodle how to walk because he thought of Doodle as an embarrassment. The doctors believed Doodle could not be overworked, or he would die. During the training, Doodle could not keep up with his older brother. Doodle fell to the ground from being tired, and slowly died...
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...For instants, the Yoruba chose elephants and birds because these animals display unique characteristics. The Elephant is known as a symbol of longevity and power. In the crown, the elephant holds a couple of red tail feathers from a bird, symbol of an initiated and protected head. The elephant is heavily associated with a king’s legitimacy because the founding city of the Yoruba culture, Ife, used elephant imagery as a way to refer back to and honor the original rulers of the civilization (Blier 2015: 321). Birds are references to powerful mothers who guard the heads of righteous and just rulers. In the crown, the Bird is shown to be powerful and protective standing tall on top of the elephant. Birds also often allude to the king’s ase in regards to his role as a median. He’s believed to spiritually venture between heaven and earth, much like birds are able to fly between the ground and the heavens (which they believed to be beyond the sky) (Lawal 2012: 54). This crown also uses a handful of bright red feathers which, in Yoruba, can also establish a king’s authority. Red is another display of ase, and can represent danger, blood, rage and even destruction through its associations with Ogun (the god of war) (Lawal 2012: 27).In honor of Oduduwa, who founded the Yoruba kingdom in 1100 C.E., many crowns...
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...The Journey: Symbolism of “The Road Not Taken” and “A Worn Path” From their titles, we realize these short stories will take us on a literary journey but what we do not realize are the choices and obstacles the protagonists encounter that adds dimension to the story. The readers’ perceptions about the events are changed by the symbolism surrounding the characters and the conflicts that are presented. “A Worn Path” is a character story told in a third-person point of view about an elderly, colored woman and her journey along a path she has taken many time before. Throughout the story Phoenix is involved in conflict by struggling against nature, social conditions and against her own physical circumstances. From the characters name alone we instantly envision a strong individual, the name implies a mythological creature that it said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage. It was said that only one phoenix existed at any one time with a life expectancy of at least 500 years. As the phoenix approached the end of life, it would build a nest, set fire to it and would die in fire to only rise from the ashes and be stronger. Ironically, Phoenix has her hair in a red rag which correlates with the scarlet plumage of the ancient bird. Her name combined with the first two paragraphs deliver a meticulous description of our character: Far out in the country there was an old Negro woman with her head tied in a red rag, coming along a...
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...The movie adaptation of The Scarlet Ibis, written by James Hurst, tells the story of Doodle, who when he was born, had growth problems, with his head being larger than his body itself. This made it very difficult for Doodle to develop correctly, as he didn't start crawling until age two and didn't start fully walking until age 5, many years past the normal age for both activities to begin. The story tells mostly of Doodle's struggles, with himself and his interactions with others. Overall, I found this wonderful movie to be very moving with strong elements of perseverance and brotherly bonding. The two stand-out parts of this movie are the use of symbolic elements and the mood that is found all throughout the story. Symbolism plays a...
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...The Journey: Symbolism of “A Worn Path” and “The Road Not Taken” Expedition. Voyage. Excursion. Pilgrimage. There are many words that are used to describe the word journey but what does it really mean? Many people consider the word journey as merely a distance in which they have traveled or will eventually travel; often they fail to recognize that there can be great meaning beyond each step that is taken. Too often, people become more focused on the destination rather than the process that it takes to get them there. While focusing on destination people neglect to recognize the value of whole process that gets them there. A journey can bring forth exhilaration and excitement as well as agony and anguish. A journey always has a power which affects the lives of people and also changes their beliefs, thoughts and ideals, thus changing them ultimately. Have you ever taken a journey? We have all found ourselves on a journey of some kind or another alone, but what is more important is how we choose to end our journey. The two literary works that I have chosen to compare and contrast are “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. At first glance the two literary works appear to be about the same thing, but upon deeper reflection we conclude that they are not, as one is written as a short story and the other is written as a poem. The short story speaks of a “path” while the poem speaks of a “road.” The theme that each of these literary...
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...satirical and astute essay “ The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History,” Jennifer Price illustrates how superficial American culture is and uses the history of the flamingo to make her claim . Price proves that the United States culture in the 1950s sensualized luxury through extravagance. Yet, her mocking tone conveys that she is criticizing U.S. culture. She conveys this through unique word choice in a comical and sarcastic way to create the comparison between the flamingo’s and the flashy American culture. In her essay Price comments on the irony of the flamboyant symbolism of the flamingo stating that “Americans had hunted flamingos to extinction...for plumes and meat.” Not only had they hunted them but had driven them to extinction....
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... a Celtic symbol of creative fertility of nature. ‘He comes alive from the desires of the woods’ further relate the Erl-king and the Green Man as they’re both considered as a symbol of the woods. The perception of ‘The Erl-King’ as peaceful is represented in his lack of disruption to the forest, as the only wood he would chop was ‘the dead branches’. Angela Carter however emphasis the negatives of what the Green Man represents in ‘The Erl-King’ as being a reincarnation of the devil. This is shown through his desire to entrap young girls through the enchantment of the forest, which he abuses in his favour as the protector of nature. Erl-king is perceived as a serial rapist as the birds in cages represent the young girls he raped before and once they grew to love him he would then turn them into birds and trap them in cages. Narrative Form The narrative voice of ‘The Erl-King’ is constantly shifting, as with ‘Wuthering Heights’. The reader is positioned in a variety of ways through the changing perspectives of third, second, and first narrative, which has an unsettling effect in ‘The Erl-King’. This is not Carter’s first time shifting the narrative voice in ‘The Bloody Chamber’...
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