Foreshadowing and Flashbacks in “The Scarlet Ibis” Regrets are one of the few factors that everyone has in common. A study was done asking hundreds of American citizens if they regretted anything from their past. Although the majority listed failed romantic relationships as their biggest regret, about sixteen percent said their biggest regrets lay in family matters (Johnson). In James Hurst's short story, "The Scarlet Ibis," Hurst uses foreshadowing and flashback to establish a reminiscence tone. As the main character and narrator of "The Scarlet Ibis," Brother reflects on his childhood and chooses to focus on the part of his life he shared with his younger brother, William Armstrong, whom he called "Doodle ". The story begins early in Doodle's life, when a clumsy little child is born. As Doodle grows up, he faces many obstacles such as difficulty crawling and walking, leaving his older brother as his primary means of transportation and primary caretaker. Doodle's brother is ashamed of his "cripple brother" and feels the need to push Doodle toward normalcy, which leads him to the source of his ultimate regret. Even from the first paragraph, Hurst's use of vocabulary evokes an emotional response to the storyline. His choice of words as the narrator describes his surroundings and hints at a fatal event that awaits the reader's attention. Hurst uses words and phrases such as "dead autumn", "rotten brown magnolia", "cemetery flowers". The last sentence, “...softly speaking the names of our dead” adds a final melancholic statement (91). The images throughout the paragraph help to imagine a strange swamp surrounded by death and depressing memories. This melancholic setting suggests...... middle of paper......t red because of the blood that flowed from his mouth. Hurst's foreshadowing correlates with events that took place during Doodle's life. Abandonment, death, and the scarlet ibis all convey the fate Doodle suffered as a result of his brother's pride and neglect. It just seems a shame that it took the narrator's death to realize his mistakes and his flashback to tell the story of the ultimate consequence of pride. Works Cited Hurst, James. “The scarlet ibis.” Literature and Language: Grade 9 Edition. McDougal Littell, 2008. 91-102. Print. Johnson, Melissa. “I should have, I should have, I could have: what do you regret?” 10 biggest regrets in life. Everyday health, March 28, 2011. Web. May 18 2014. .