Scarlet Ibis Essay
When you compare Doodle and the scarlet ibis, you can see that they are like an equation with no solution. An equation with no solution, makes it that you don’t realize the outcome until the last few steps. In the same way, you think that the scarlet ibis is like Doodle after it appears and dies in their backyard, then hours later, Doodle dies almost the same way. When Doodle was born, everyone thought he was going to die, because he was so undeveloped. Just like Doodle, the scarlet ibis is sickly and everyone knows that it’s going to die. The Doodle’s death is caused by a storm just like the scarlet ibis not too long ago Now that you are at the “last few steps”, stop to think about it, and you can find that the Doodle’s death was awkward and the scarlet ibis is just a bird that lives off instincts and Doodle is a human being, who has complicated emotions. With this being said, the scarlet ibis cannot help or even relate to the equation of Doodle’s life.
The timing of Doodle’s death is awkward, because he died from being tired in a storm and so did the scarlet ibis just hours ago, as I said before. James Hurst made the story so that the scarlet ibis would be looked upon as the symbol to represent Doodle and even foreshadow his soon death. It is too obvious and almost forces the reader to believe it when Brother thinks he was “...sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain.”(183) Furthermore, Doodle’s equation was predetermined to have no solution, because he was bound to die early due to him not being fully developed. Hurst adding to the death with a symbol that doesn’t fit made the death seem awkward and it was almost rushed on as shown during the time between the scarlet ibis’ burial and Doodle’s death.
Another reason the scarlet ibis a bad symbol to represent Doodle, is because a scarlet ibis is just an animal that can’t possibly symbolize a complex human being. Doodle when he is younger wants to be beautiful and it hurts him to be frowned on by his brother which is shown when he cries and says “So pretty, so pretty, pretty.”(176) To explain, he envies the grass or the people who are