SCARLET IBIS NOTES POINT OF VIEW 1 ST
SCARLET IBIS NOTES
POINT OF VIEW- 1 ST PERSON LIMITED • NARRATOR’S NAME ISN’T GIVEN, JUST “BROTHER”, REINFORCES THAT THE STORY FOCUSES ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BROTHERS
THEMES • PARADOX OF TERRIBLE BEAUTY= FRONT OF HIS SHIRT WAS STAINED A BRILLIANT RED, WHEN DEAD DOODLE AND THE BIRD ARE “FRAGILE, ” “GRACEFUL, ” • MIXED EMOTIONS= NARRATOR’S LOVE/CRUELTY TOWARDS DOODLE, NARRATOR’S PRIDE/SHAME “THERE IS WITHIN ME A KNOT OF CRUELTY BORN BY A STREAM OF LOVE, ” “I DID NOT KNOW THEN THAT PRIDE IS A WONDERFUL, TERRIBLE THING, A SEED THAT BEARS TWO VINES, LIFE AND DEATH”
FORESHADOWING • “WILLIAM ARMSTRONG…SUCH A NAME SOUNDS GOOD ONLY ON A TOMBSTONE”; DOODLE’S COFFIN, THE DEATH OF THE IBIS; THE STORM
TONE/MOOD • POIGNANT, PENSIVE, SOMBER, REGRETFUL, SOMETIMES NOSTALGIC (DESCRIPTION OF SETTING, SUBDUED IMAGERY, NARRATOR’S COMMENTS, FINAL EVENTS OF STORY)
AUTHOR’S STYLE • USE OF IMAGERY • SYMBOLISM • TOLD AS FLASHBACKS • ATTENTION-GETTING OPENING/CLOSING LINES- “ I LAY THERE CRYING, SHELTERING MY FALLEN SCARLET IBIS FROM THE HERESY OF RAIN”
SYMBOLISM • SCARLET IBIS- SYMBOL FOR DOODLE, FOR FRAGILE BEAUTY, FOR DEATH • SWAMP – SYMBOL FOR THE BROTHERS’ LOVE, BOND • WEATHER- SYMBOL FOR EMOTIONS/UPHEAVAL IN CHARACTERS’ LIVES • THE COLOR RED-ASSOCIATED WITH DOODLE, THE IBIS, SYMBOLIZES EXOTIC BEAUTY, DEATH • DOODLE’S COFFIN-SYMBOL FOR DEATH • DOODLE’S CART- HIS DEPENDENCE/INDEPENDENCE
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