The short story, “The Scarlet Ibis” is about two brothers that overcome adversity. One of the brothers, a mentally challenged boy named doodle learns how to walk with the help of his thirteen year old brother. The author, James Hurst, from the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis” uses diction and figurative language to prove that the character doodle is a clumsy, caring, and scared character.
The author uses diction and figurative language to show that doodle is a clumsy person. One example of this is when the author writes, “When he crawled, he crawled backward, as if he were in reverse and couldn't change gears”. The author during this part of the book is using figurative language to further prove his point. Doodle is not actually in reverse like …show more content…
For example the author says, “ Doodle knelt beside the Ibis. I'm going to bury him.” As soon as Doodle heard the bird in distress he came out of the house. When he watched the bird die he immediately knew what to do. Another example of this is when the author says, “ There wasn't a sound as Doodle walked slowly across the room and sat down at the table. Then mamma began to cry and ran over to him hugging and kissing him. Doodle told them it was I who taught him how to walk.” Even through all the commotion going on Doodle did not forget to thank his brother for helping him. Further proving that Doodle is caring.

The author also uses diction to show that Doodle is scared. For example the author writes, “ Daddy built him a cart and I had to pull him around. If I so much as picked up my hat, he’d start crying to go with me”. Doodle is terrified of being alone. He cries very easily and has to go everywhere with his brother. The last example of this is when the author writes, “ When I made him touch the casket he screamed.” During this part of the book Doodle’s older brother is showing him the casket they made for Doodle when they thought he was going to die. Doodle cries very easily, just touching the casket made him scream.
In conclusion the author uses diction and figurative language to express the character Doodle. In doing so James Hurst adds more to the story. Both brothers work hard to overcome their problems and Doodle learns to walk