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Dramatic Irony
Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Foreshadowing
Explanation and Analysis—The Scarlet Ibis:
Hurst foreshadows Doodle’s death in a number of ways in “The Scarlet Ibis.” One of these is via the appearance of a scarlet ibis who ends up in the family’s yard after a storm and, in front of the whole family, falls from a tree to its death. The following passage captures the foreshadowing in this moment:
At that moment the bird began to flutter but the wings were uncoordinated, and amid much flapping and a spray of flying feathers, it tumbled down, bumping through the limbs of the bleeding tree and landing at our feet with a thud. Its long, graceful neck jerk twice into an S, then straightened out, and the bird was still. A white veil came over his eyes, and the long white beak unhinged. Its legs were crossed and its clawlike feet were delicately curved at rest.
The bird’s body in this moment mirrors Doodle’s body in several ways. First, the bird is a “scarlet” ibis and Brother, earlier in the story, describes Doodle’s body looking “red” upon his birth. Likewise, just as the ibis ends its life at the bottom of a “bleeding tree” (which implies a red color), Doodle dies “beneath a red nightshade bush.” It is also worth nothing that the bird’s body is obviously impaired here, with its neck “jerking” into strange positions and its legs ending up “crossed.” Doodle’s legs also end up in an unusual shape in the moment of his death; Brother describes them as being “bent sharply at the knees.” The foreshadowing becomes even more obvious in the final line of the story, as Brother refers to Doodle's dead body as "my fallen scarlet ibis."
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Pride as a Seed:
After Doodle shows his family that Brother has successfully taught him how to walk, Brother, in his role as narrator, offers some commentary to readers, using a metaphor in the process:
It seemed so hopeless from the beginning that it's a miracle I didn't give up. But all of us must have something or someone to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine. I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.
The metaphor here—in which Brother describes pride as “a seed that bears two vines, life and death”—foreshadows the fact that Brother’s desperation for his disabled brother to be seen as “normal” will lead to both positive and negative outcomes. Specifically, it leads to Doodle being able to experience more of “life” (as seen in his newfound ability to move through the world of his own accord), and, later, leads directly to his death. It is only because Brother becomes fed up with Doodle after a “failed” rowing lesson that he abandons Doodle during a storm, leaving him to die.
In this passage, Brother—who narrates this story from the future—demonstrates an awareness that his sense of self had become too tied to his brother’s “development,” and this prideful over-investment (and accompanying resentment) is what led to Doodle’s death.
Related Themes:
