Mood and Symbolism in The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst

In the story, "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst, the author uses many different ways of foreshadowing one of the main characters, Doodle, and his death. Doodle is one of the main characters in the story, who happened to be extremely crippled when he was born. The author foreshadows this by using both mood, and symbolism. Mood is what the author is trying to tell us about what is yet to come in the story. Symbolism is the connections between different events in the story that foreshadow for future. These are used in many ways throughout the story, to foreshadow little Doodle's death.

There are many examples of mood in the story. For example, towards the beginning, the author talks about how it was the clove of seasons. Also how their smell drifted through all the rooms of their house, speaking softly the names of their dead. This can be used to tell that the story will probably be about death. The example is basically telling us that the death, will indeed be of the small crippled boy, Doodle.

You can also foreshadow Doodle's death by symbolism. A perfect example of this would be when the scarlet ibis dies; its neck limp and red. This was symbolizing for when Doodle was found dead; curled up with his head embedded in his arms. His brother lifted his head up, only to find his brother's neck to be limp and bloody red; just like the scarlet ibis' neck had been. The scarlet ibis' death with its limp, red neck, was obviously a symbol of foreshadowing that Hurst had put in this marvelous story.

Doodle's death was foreshadowed by mood and symbolism. In James Hurst's, "The Scarlet Ibis," he used great preparation for the coming of Doodle's death. When using mood and symbolism, stories can be told in more exotic ways. These two elements are perfect indicators for leading up to big scenes in books. When realizing these two key points can lead to a totally different way of reading books; it makes you think about the story line in a whole different view.