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Scarlet IbisA symbol is something such as a material object, written words or signs, which represent something else by association, resemblance, or convention. Working like images, symbols carry meaning, defining something in particular. For example, a simple rose. A rose is but a flower, one of the hundreds of types of flowers out there, until a dozen of them are given to you. Depending on the color, when one is given a red rose it represents love and passion. Another example a white wedding dress, the whiten dress is used to represent the purity of the wife to be for her husband. "The Scarlet Ibis", by James Hurst, is a short story of two brothers, 'Brother' and 'Doodle'. The story opens with brother reminiscing on the day a scarlet ibis landed in his yard, the mere thought sets off the memory of the birth of his mentally and physically disabled brother, Doodle. The scarlet ibis itself represents the symbol in the story. A symbol, is the use of an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning. The scarlet ibis, is a large scarlet colored bird with long legs and a long curved bill, it acquires it's vivid color from shrimps, which form most of it's diet. Needing a specific environment in order to flourish, the scarlet ibis inhabits coastal regions, such as South America and Trinidad and Tobago. The death of the scarlet ibis sparked off the immediate connection between Doodle and the scarlet ibis thus starts the symbolism. The scarlet ibis, who normally travels in groups, and lives mainly in coastal regions, was alone in a foreign environment. As it needs a certain habitat to live, being somewhere completely different now made the bird frail, much as Doodle. Being disabled alone makes one an outcast, having no one to relate to, Doodle was alone in the world.
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