Skip to main content

How do sensory details combine effectively to create a certain atmosphere or mood in "The Scarlet Ibis"?

In "The Scarlet Ibis," author James Hurst appeals to the senses in order to create a foreboding and tension-filled mood. The first line of the story reads, "It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born, that the ibis lit in the bleeding tree." Immediately, description and contextual clues appeal to the senses—for instance, a footnote says that the bleeding tree is native to the South, so the reader can apply that summers in the South are sticky and humid. But that summer heat is described as giving way to cooler autumn, creating a unique sensation of hot and cold. Hurst goes on to name multiple types of flowers such as magnolia and phlox, and says that "their smell drifted across the cotton field" (page 1). The reader can feel the heat, smell the flowers, and see the cotton field that surrounds the narrator's house. 


As the story progresses, these beautiful descriptors become rather oppressive and ominous. The smell of the flowers becomes sickly sweet in the spring, and by the next summer all is "calm" and the family remarks that a storm is imminent (page 4, page 8-9). When Doodle's family hears "a strange croaking noise" in the yard, Hurst appeals to our sense of hearing (page 9). When the bizarre bird dies at the foot of the bleeding tree, and Doodle devotes a great deal of strength to burying it, the foreboding and tension-filled mood is increased. The ibis is dead, and Doodle looks pale from exertion (page 10). Doodle's lack of strength, coupled with the nightmares and fevers described on page 8, make the reader worry about him, for we know that those are signs of sickness. 


The final pages of the story appeal not only to the reader's senses, but also to their emotions. The sight and feel of the sun that "still burned fiercely" gives way to the "black clouds," "lightning...[and] thunder" that signal a storm (page 11). Finally, "the sun disappeared and darkness descended, almost like night," and the reader can imagine the terror of the boys, the electricity in the hot air, and the imminent rain (page 11). When Doodle dies beneath a tree, the reader shares in his brother's anguish, as he "screamed above the pounding storm" and wept over his little brother's body (page 12). Hurst's appeals to the senses allow the reader to be more involved in the story, fully absorbed in the stormy atmosphere and somber mood of "The Scarlet Ibis."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more