The Scarlet Ibis Quote Analysis

566 Words2 Pages

Scarlet Ibis In the short story ‘The Scarlet Ibis” Doodle's older brother, the narrator, pushes Doodle too hard. The setting of the story is in the country, near a swamp and the ocean. The scarlet Ibis, casket, and bleeding tree are significant symbols which reveal the theme: don’t push too hard, all people have breaking points. According to the text on page 5, “[the Scarlet Ibis] “it tumbled down, bumping through the limbs of the bleeding tree and landing at our feet with a thud. Its long, graceful neck jerked twice into an S, then straightened out, and the bird was still.” (Hurst, pg. 5.) This ties Doodle to the Scarlet Ibis because as the ibis falls through the bleeding tree it is losing strength just as doodle is. When the quote says …show more content…

His hand, trembling, reached out, and when he touched the casket, he screamed.” (Hurst, p.2) that quote shows that when he touched it he was scared, he screamed and it shows that he is scared of the disease he has. Also according to the text on page 2, “A screech owl flapped out of the box into our faces, scaring us and covering us with Paris green.” (Hurst, pg. 2) this supports the idea of death as well because paris green is rat poison. This also ties Doodle into the symbol because when there is rat poisons that shows that it has been there for a while and that Doodle has been fighting the disease for a long time. According to the text on page 5, “Its wings hung down loosely, and as we watched, a feather dropped away and floated slowly down through the green leaves.” (Hurst, p.5) this represents the symbol by, The ibis perches in the bleeding tree, which reminds readers of the color red as well. When Doodle dies, his blood stains his skin and his shirt red. Also in this story, the color red symbolizes death however, it also symbolizes beauty through the beautiful ibis, its tree, and nature. According to the text on page 5, . "A grindstone stands where the bleeding tree stood," this supports the idea of In the beginning, the narrator tells readers that the grindstone has taken the place of the bleeding tree, which symbolizes Doodle. Its also represents when The narrator says the grindstone is grinding away the past and bringing him back to the time of all his memories with

Open Document