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Scarelet Ibis

Scarlet Ibis

From the V sign for peace to the check sign for Nike, symbols are all over. A symbol is something that represents something else, either by association or by resemblance. It can be a material object or a written sign used to represent something invisible. Where one may look, there is a symbol to find. In the short story “Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst the beautiful bright bird, the scarlet ibis, is used to symbolize a frail young boy. The scarlet ibis is a delicate bird that inhabits in tropical weather; any change made in its environment leads to drastic consequences.

James Hurst’s short story is filled with intensely beautiful and unfortunate events that touches ones heart. “Scarlet Ibis” is about a fragile little boy whose brother teaches him how to walk as a selfish act. Doodle, the boy who was told he would never be able to walk, learned to walk after practicing day and night with his older brother. Doodle’s older brother wasn’t teaching him to walk sincerely, rather he wanted to teach him to walk because he was tired him dragging him around where ever he went.

In the story there is a scene where a scarlet ibis lands on a tree in their backyard and dies suffering. “How many miles had it traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree?” As said before any slight change to the environment in which the bird lives leads to negative outcomes; this bird’s outcome was its death. Later in the story, after a dinner, Doodle and his brother decided to head out and bury the bird. That evening it was raining extremely hard. Doodle was just adapting to walking and his brother was already to teach him how to run now. On their journey to burring the pretty red bird, in hopes of teaching Doodle to run, he started walking fast changing the pace that Doodle was used to. The faster he walked, the more Doodle disappeared; soon enough Doodle died.

While reading this short story I learned a few things. One thing I learned is challenging yourself is a great thing, but you must learn when enough is enough. A second thing I learn is that sometimes people help others to help themselves. It isn't always a bad thing but selfish acts can go wrong.