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Foreshadowing In The Scarlet Ibis

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Common Task One Good authors use themes in their stories to relate to the reader and leave a specific message or moral for the reader to remember. In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst the theme is to always have faith in someone’s potential and abilities, even if the odds are against them. The specific writing techniques James Hurst uses in his short story are foreshadowing, interesting dialogue, and inner conflict. The author uses foreshadowing to help prepare the reader for what is going to happen later in the story. During the story this is shown through the narrator’s feelings about Doodle, “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” (Hurst 3) The narrator is questioning his relationship with his brother Doodle, and how much he …show more content…
Hurst uses conflict to help explain the theme. This means that through a conflict in the story, the reader is able to relate or better understand what the author is trying to portray to the reader. Because of this, the reader is able to better see the theme the author is trying to show. This is shown best through Doodle’s struggle with inner conflict, “This time he did not lift his face up out of the rubber grass, ‘I just can’t do it. Let’s make honeysuckle wreaths,’ [Doodle said].” (Hurst 3) Doodle is having an inner conflict about whether or not he will be able to walk because he knows the odds are against him, and he has to work hard to reach this goal. Overall, the author of “The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst, uses foreshadowing, interesting dialogue, and a character’s inner conflict to help describe the theme of the story to his readers. The theme of this story is something that the readers of his story can relate to, whether they have experienced it personally, or seen it impact other people’s lives. The theme of his story is best summarized as it is important to always have faith in someone’s potential and abilities even if the odds are against

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