Symbolism In The Scarlet Ibis

The Scarlet Ibis is the symbol that best represents Doodle from the story “The Scarlet Ibis”. I will use quotes from the story to explain this. Firstly, “Its long neck jerked twice into an S, then straightened out, and the bird was still. A white veil came over the eyes and the long white beak unhinged. Its legs were crossed and it claw like feet were delicately curved at rest. Even death did not mar its grace, for it lay on the earth like a broken vase of red flowers, and we stood around it, awed by its exotic beauty” (Hurst 137). Secondly, “He lay very awkwardly with his head thrown far back, making his vermilion neck appear unusually long and slim. His little legs, bent sharply at the knees, had never before seemed so fragile and thin” (Hurst

139).

The first quote is of when the Scarlet Ibis died and The second quote is of when Doodle died. Both of these examples are similar, they are about Doodle and the Scarlet Ibis. When the Scarlet Ibis dies the author describes it to be graceful, while when Doodle dies the author describes it to be awkward and making him seem fragile. A similarity between both the Scarlet Ibis and Doodle is that, in death it looks like Doodle has an unusually long and slim neck, and the Scarlet Ibis is a bird and naturally has a long thin neck in death. Next, The narrator straight out compares Doodle to the Scarlet Ibis at the end of the story by thinking this next piece of example, “For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis” (Hurst 139). The next quote explains how the Scarlet Ibis was not supposed to be where he was. “It lives in the tropics--South America to Florida. A storm must have brought it here” (Hurst 137). Doodle was also not supposed to

be where he was. “Everybody thought he was going to die” (Hurst 129). The previous quote explains how Doodle was supposed to die and he was not supposed to be alive like he did. These quotes show that Doodle and the Scarlet Ibis were not supposed to live where were they, they were not meant to survive where they were. Another example of how the Scarlet Ibis is a symbol of Doodle is, “He had been bleeding from the mouth, and his neck and the front of his shirt were stained a brilliant red” (Hurst 139). This quote shows that when Doodle died, he was red. Another quote is, “Even death did not mar its grace, for it lay on the earth like a broken vase of red flowers” (Hurst 137). This quote shows that the Scarlet Ibis was also red when it died. Both the Scarlet Ibis and Doodle did not die from a wound, they died because they were pushed past their limits. A quote that shows that about the Scarlet Ibis is, “How many miles it had traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree” (Hurst 137). This quote shows that the Scarlet Ibis was pushed past its limits because it flew so far away from home, it was so exhausted. Doodle was pushed past his limits as shown in this quote, I hear Doodle, who had fallen behind, cry out, ‘Brother, Brother, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!’” (Hurst 138). Doodle was falling behind in the quote because he was getting tired and he could keep running. He was pushed past his limits of physical exertion and since he was a sickly child those limits were very low. The physical exertion led to his death, which was the same reason that the Scarlet Ibis died. All of the examples and evidence I have given is why the Scarlet Ibis is a symbol for Doodle.