Analysis Of The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

What is the definition of pride? If someone were to search the definition they would find that pride is “a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.” People can experience pride from many things like success, or intelligence, and even simple petty things being the first to turn in their test in a class. In the story the character Brother has a different type of pride, instead of being prideful of his actions his pride is a character trait. Brother is prideful of himself and having his crippled brother Doodle damaged his pride which is a dangerous thing when pride is a trait instead of a feeling. People often forget about how important a family member, especially siblings, are because they haven’t matured enough to understand the complexity and importance of life and family. In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis” brotherhood is a very big topic throughout it and the character “Brother” demonstrates how complicated and strange being prideful, being a sibling, and being a person, is. Through the story he is characterized as considerate and hurtful through his actions and inner thoughts.

Pride can be a fulfilling quality at times, however, it can sometimes be your enemy. It often breeds cruelty. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, written by James Hurst, cruel pride is shown perfectly and tragically. Brother, the narrator, wanted a normal sibling; a partner who he could do leisure activities with. “I thought myself pretty smart at many things, like holding my breath, running, jumping, climbing vines in Old Woman Swamp, and I wanted more than anything else someone to race to Horsehead Landing, someone to box with, and someone to perch within the top fork of the great pine behind the barn, where across the fields and swamps you could see the sea. I wanted a brother.” (Hurst 595). Instead, he was born with “...an invalid brother…” (Hurst 595). Ashamed, he killed his wounded brother trying to make him normal.

In passage 8 of “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Hurst prepares the reader for death with the foreshadowing of the storm, creates a mournful mood with the use of descriptive details, and finalizes the plot with a metaphor.

¨At six years old, when his brother is born, the narrator tells the reader that from the first, Doodle was "a disappointment." When he learns that Doodle is possibly mentally and physically challenged, the narrator begins his plan to kill his brother; however, his plans are soon discarded after Doodle smiles at him¨. (James Hurst) The main conflict of "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst is Brother's inability to deal with Doodle's disabilities.

James Hurst is the author of the heart breaking short story entitled “The Scarlet Ibis”. “The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story about two brothers; one brother is healthy, while the other is physically handicapped. The short story is centered on the idea that the older, healthier brother’s selfishness and pride ultimately led to the death of his younger brother, Doodle. Numerous quotes throughout the story demonstrate Hurst’s use of symbolism and foreshadowing to portray and predict Doodle’s untimely and heartbreaking death.

Symbols are used to represent something else deeper than the actual meaning either in real life or in literature. In the story “The Scarlet Ibis”, Doodle who is mentally and physically disabled was not expected to live. Although, he did live, however, he could not do things other children could do such as walk or talk. Therefore, his older brother set out to teach him because he was embarrassed to have an abnormal brother. However, many years later Doodle is soon overworked until he can no longer go on, and he sadly dies. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst uses the caul, the oriole nest, and the blood od Doodle as symbols to offer greater insight into abstract ideas that are difficult to understand on their own.

“The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story written by James Hurst that is a short story about adolescent born with a medical condition who is ultimately dead due to his brother’s lack of ability to accept the positive features and alternately focus on the negative features of his brother, William Armstrong, who he later renamed Doodle as he perceived that the fact that his parents “named him Armstrong...was like tying a big tail on a small kite”( Hurst NP). There are numerous subjects in the story such as pride, brotherhood and selfishness that can demonstrate a theme that states that pride and selfishness can interfere with brotherhood by convincing us to commit cruel things to the ones we love. In the beginning of the story,

The narrator, Brother, tells the story of Doodle, his brother, and his childhood with all his disabilities; starting off by telling about Doodle when he was a baby and toddler, about how he could not do much for himself for a long time, but eventually learns to crawl. He soon moves onto when Doodle got a little older and Brother would have to take him everywhere he went and how the two would take on the mission of teaching Doodle to walk; they spent almost everyday out in the woods making Doodle stronger and stronger. On Doodle’s sixth birthday, they showed the family what he could do;

The narrator always had strong opinions about Doodle. Ever since the day Doodle was born, the narrator’s pride was much too high for having him as a brother, saying, “he was born when I was six and was, from the outset, a disappointment.” Not even giving his brother a chance to grow up and prove himself. Since the narrator did not know how to handle having a

“Nothing hurts more than trying your absolute best and still not being good enough.” -r.t Everyone in our society wants to be accepted into this world so they try and try until they think they are good enough but sometimes it still isn’t enough, like with Doodle in “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. Doodle was born into the world expecting to be a normal child, but turning out to have disabilities. His whole family never really accepted him because of his distinction. His brother would try to teach Doodle everything he would need to be to become a normal person, but only for himself, which hurt Brother in the long run when selfishness and rejection become him. Some people may say that James Hurst views difference as a way to become closer to the one that is diverse. This makes sense because Brother would act as if he accepted his brother as much as he would try to change him. However, in the story Brother was very selfish because he was embarrassed about having a brother with disabilities so he never accepted him, he merely approved of the brother that Brother made him.

The setting of “The Scarlet Ibis” helps prepare the readers’ state of mind from the very beginning. In the first place, the story takes place at the end of World War I and represents the internal conflict the narrator has as he struggles between guilt of his younger brother’s death and the acceptance of his brother’s disabilities. With this in mind, the narrator is abashed over Doodle’s inability to walk because he thinks disabilities are shameful, and he wanted a brother who was athletic, outgoing, and adventurous. For this reason,”When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn't walk, so I set out to teach him (Hurst 417).” The narrator admits to going out of his way to train Doodle to walk because he has so much pride that it is getting in the way of more important goals, meaning he would rather have a “normal” brother than a happy one. The poor treatment of his brother ultimately leads to Doodle’s death. Furthermore, he forces Doodle to do things unwillingly, such as touch his own coffin and train him to be “normal”. The narrator traumatizes his little brother to think a certain way in order to become accepted by society. Even

The only thing that the Brother wanted was a sibling with which he could play with. But when Doodle arrived all of his hopes were shattered. As a result, he makes Doodle pay for it on many occasions. He makes him touch his own casket that was laying in the lay loft being reserved for

In "The Scarlet Ibis," Hurst demonstrates direct characterization through the older brother because Doodle is supposedly a burden to him and the older brother is ashamed of having a crippled little brother who is reliant on him, all the time. The older brother wants Doodle to be normal so at Old Women's Swamp, the older brother is trying to teach Doodle how to walk. He tries to teach him to walk because he thinks pulling Doodle every where in a wooden go-cart is a burden, older brother exclaims “ He was a burden in many ways” (Hurst 4). The older brother acted selfishly towards Doodle because the older brother wants Doodle to be normal. Older brother thinks it is a burden to help Doodle go places where the older brother is going.

“But a man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.” (Ernest Hemingway) The Scarlet Ibis is about a boy who wants to teach is disabled brother, Doodle, to do normal things, but the boy does not know when enough is enough. Brother pushed Doodle so hard, it eventually to his death. Brother and Doodle did not accept defeat, but only Doodle was destroyed. In the story, The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, the theme ego cannot accept defeat is revealed through symbolism and rising action.

Family means everything to the majority of the human population. They are always there if you need a shoulder to lean on or a hand to hold, until they are taken away from you. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, Doodle’s older brother left Doodle to die alone in a storm. This is similar to the Republican sniper in “The Sniper”. The sniper also killed his own brother.