Set during the early 1900s, before World War 2 and when President Wilson was in term, comes a story where a man, who is not named, narrates his deep forgotten memories when he flashes back in time to when he had a brother, thus sparks a narration of many conflicts between himself and society, foreshadowing, and as well as symbolism that happened in the early parts of the narration. In the short story, Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst explains that looking back and remembering symbolic images from the past can be both haunting and joyful, both allowing people to experience memories from the past that can show true hurt or happiness depending on the things one has done.
Memories can come up from anywhere that will give one’s self any slight nostalgia from the past and can come back to make you conflicted between one’s self or with others. Even something …show more content…
Moreover, the narrator explains that as he stares at the grindstone, he feels that, “the grindstone begins to turn, and in time with all its changes is ground way--and I remember Doodle” which explains that although the narrator has a reason to want to purposely forget the past, he has a conflict between himself to wanting to relive the experience (Hurst 416). Then before the flashbacks, the narrator states that he has returned to his childhood house, and describes that a grindstone had been placed where the once living bleeding tree had stood, which symbolizes the memories that have been lost not forgotten. For example in the beginning of the story, the narrator claims that, “A grindstone stands where the bleeding tree stood, just outside the kitchen door” which comes to show that although the bleeding tree is gone for a while, he still remembers that there used to be something for