Scarlet Ibis Short Story Symbol

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Symbolism is used in many stories for authors to help convey a message for reader and for the story to have more value after it is read. The story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a story filled with symbolism, and one symbol is where the two main characters went every day in the summer: Doodle and Brother. Another symbol used by James Hurst is the wagon. The story is about a relationship of two brothers with one being disabled causing him to be much weaker and not being able to do things such as swim, run, and go to school. The character, named Doodle,could not even stand up until his brother who is unnamed, help him learn after a lot of practice. The theme of the story would be to not be too prideful of yourself or someone else. James Hurst uses the swamp and the wagon as symbols to convey more meaning to the story. The first symbol in the story is the swamp. In this story the swamp is more specifically called the Old Woman Swamp, and it …show more content…

The wagon is used to carry Doodle around when he was unable to walk. “It was about this time that Daddy built him a go-cart and I had to pull him around. At first I just paraded him up and down the piazza,8 but then he started crying to be taken out into the yard, and it ended up by my having to lug him wherever I went” (Hurst 2). The quote is used to help add symbolism to the wagon and have it represent responsibility, burden, and dependency. In the story the wagon is used to push Doodle by Brother, similar to Brother pushing Doodle to his limits of overcoming his handicap. “Within a few months Doodle had learned to walk well and his go-cart was put up in the barn loft (it's still there) beside his little mahogany coffin” (Hurst 5). When the wagon was left in the barn loft that was related to when Brother crossed the line and didn't give Doodle the dependency he needed. The wagon/go-cart shows responsibility, burden, dependency, and Brother pushing doodle too

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