Steven Warren

Bell 2A
11/4/13
Motif in The Scarlet Ibis

Birds are a recurring theme throughout James Hursts The Scarlet Ibis. Even just scanning the
short story, it is easy to tell that birds are featured in this piece just by only its name. Inside the work,
birds are used to represent freedom, with Doodles stories containing people who had wings and flew
wherever they wanted. Also, when Doodle is learning to walk, the narrator commented that hope
perched like a cardinal in the lacy toothbrush tree. While this motif represents freedom, it also
represents death. When the narrator forces Doodle to touch his coffin, Doodle is attacked by a screech
owl that was living inside it. Slightly more important to the storyline, the Scarlet Ibis foreshadows
Doodles own, almost inevitable, death to the narrators dismay. Without the use of birds as a motif in
The Scarlet Ibis, the short story loses much of its meaning.