Characterization In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

Brother’s pride and obsession with helping Doodle succeed actually takes away from his goals to help Doodle. Brother states “I prepared a terrific development program for him” (4). Brother’s original intentions were to teach Doodle how to walk, run, swim, climb trees, and fight, which was a supportive thing for him to do. Although Brother believes that this all will help Doodle develop his skills, he ends up hurting Doodle by overworking him. Later, Brother says, “I should have already admitted defeat, but my pride wouldn’t let me” (4). Since Brother wants Doodle to succeed, he pushes him over the limit, which was a

Brother states in the text, ¨ 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.¨(pg.4). Brother only wanted to teach Doodle how to walk because he was embarrassed for himself, not Doodle, and that is the only reason why he set out to teach him. Another piece of evidence for this topic is, the narrator was ashamed that he only taught Doodle how to walk for his own satisfaction.(pg.6). In this evidence the narrator is admitting that he did wrong and only cares about himself. The last piece of evidence is, ¨School was only a few weeks away, and Doodle was far behind schedule.¨(pg.8). Brother was only teaching Doodle so many skills only because he wanted to look like he had a normal brother at

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.

In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis”, the Brother pushed Doodle to learn how to walk, swim, run and various activities so that Doodle would not seem to be crippled. Through the Brother's characterization, conflicts and eventual resolution, Hurst suggested that one's overwhelming selfishness, pride and cruelty can result in the death of a loved brother.

“The only difference between a hero and the villain is that the villain chooses to use that power in a way that is selfish and hurts other people” (Chadwick Boseman). In Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis,” the narrator chooses to use his power in a way that hurts his invalid brother, Doodle. While living in a time period where different is improper, the narrator cannot mentally handle the fact that Doodle is different from others. Being the older sibling, the narrator takes on the responsibility to help Doodle become ordinary. He teaches Doodle to walk, run, climb, and swim, because he is ashamed of having a brother with disabilities. As a result, the narrator serves as a villain by forcing his invalid brother, Doodle, past his limitations, which ultimately causes the

In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Hurst illustrates the struggle of one boy with his disability and his and his brothers expectations.

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

Doodle's initial conflict with his brother leads his brother to patronize him for being different. Brother and his whole family believe that Doodle wasn't going to survive

The actions of Doodle’s brother are fueled with much disdain towards his younger sibling. Various levels of the narrator’s cruelty are revealed in the

I would like to start by saying that Doodle’s brother could say some hurtful things to Doodle that may discourage him. For example, “One day I took Doodle up to the barn loft, and showed him his casket, telling him how we all believed he would die.” (2) It was a poor choice for his brother to make and it caused Doodle to get scared and worried about whether or not his life has all been a lie. He did not know that his family thought

This text proves that the narrator has no problem with the idea of killing his brother, and the only reason why he doesn’t is that Doodle shows that he is “all there”. Further in the story, the narrator displays the wish of Doodle being a normal boy. Despite the disability of a weak body, the

While Doodle walks to the dinner table on his own, Brother says: “They didn’t know that I just did it because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (Hurst). The quote shows how big brothers pride overcomes his love and acceptance of Doodle… How Brother felt humiliated of the disability Doodle was born, additionally, how he was a slave to his own pride. He didn’t want to be acknowledged as the boy with a disabled brother. Brother has been encouraged to help Doodle for his own selfish motives, but at the same time he also experienced guilt for doing

This causes the Narrator to be embarrassed of his brother and want to fix the issue by pushing him to learn to walk. This shows that he is being selfish because he's fixing an issue that may seem like he's benefiting Doodle, although this is true, he is really doing it for himself. Most people do not do, or try to do selfish things to people they know or love. This shows that the Narrator does not care or love Doodle and think he's annoying. At the end of the Story when Doodle dies, we see that the Narrator is very sad and want Doodle back. So he went from being selfish, using Doodle, and treating him badly to loving him and being mournful.This is clear change in the Narrator, further proving that he is a dynamic

In the story "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst a young handicapped by is born with a large head, a small body, and a weak heart. As time goes on, Doodle overcomes many obstacles with the help of his older brother.

It also demosttates how precarious Brother is about Doodle’s limitations. After many days of failing to walk, Doodle finally able himself to walk by himself; “ they did not know that I [brother] did it for myself; that prude, whise slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (Hurst 468). The narrator’s egoism is forcing Doodle and himself to push further than what Doodle can do. Prsseured by how others think of “him”, Brother tries his best change Doodle’s ability.