Doodle In The Scarlet Ibis

Brother decides to help Doodle learn how to walk. He helps him be a “normal brother” by teaching him how to swim, walk, run, and etc. When Doodle dies, Brother shields his body from the rain. He cries when Doodle dies.

Even though Doodle is just an infant, the narrator tries to kill him. Once Doodle gets a little older, the narrator forces Doodle to touch the coffin he was going to be buried in and was threatening him that if he did not do it, the narrator would leave him by himself. The narrator and Doodle’s parents make the narrator take Doodle wherever the narrator goes; pushing Doodle on a wagon. Therefore, the narrator desires to teach Doodle how to walk, so he will not have to take Doodle along everywhere he goes. Therefore, it is obvious that he teaches Doodle how to walk for his own benefit; not Doodle’s.

When the Brother was forcing Doodle to learn how to walk, Doodle was in pain and he didn’t want to learn to walk at all. “This time [Doodle] did not lift his face up out of the rubber grass. ‘ I just can’t do it. Let’s make honeysuckle wreath.’”(4) From this quote, Hurst shows that Doodle was giving up, Doodle’s body knew that it could not support Doodle to walk yet, he needed to practice for a long time. As a younger teenage boy, the narrator was not well educated and did not understand the capability of Doodle’s body and he often force Doodle to do things that he don’t want to do. “There is within [the Brother] a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to Doodle.”(3) At the time of the story, the Brother was childish and very irresponsible. Just like what he has said in the quotes above, the Brother was cruel to Doodle. He forced Doodle to touch a coffin and threatened Doodle that he would leave Doodle if he doesn't touch a coffin. The coffin was made originally for Doodle, since everyone thought Doodle was going to die very soon. Later in the training program, the narrator wanted Doodle to run, Doodle’s limited physical ability was overwhelmed, the Brother simply ditched Doodle in the heavy rain since he was mad at Doodle for not reaching the goal that they

At the beginning, Doodle had been very hesitant to go along with his brother’s plans. He tried to argue with his brother. “I can’t walk, Brother,” Doodle said. “Who says so?” He demanded. “Mama, the doctor, everybody,” uttered Doodle. “Oh, you can walk,” The narrator said.” Shortly after that, Doodle began to follow the narrator’s orders and self ambitions. Soon, the narrator had acquired too much ambition, putting Doodle at risk. This is evident with Doodle’s constant cry, “don’t hurt me, Brother.” Little did the narrator know he would be pushing his brother too far. Later in the story, the narrator let his ambition overcome him and decided to keep on pushing his brother. He did not want a brother who could not do what other normal schoolboys could do. He admits to himself, “the knowledge that Doodle’s and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awakened.” He believed what Doodle could not do would greatly affect him and his social

When Brother set out to teach Doodle to walk and realized he had succeeded he became so proud and was convinced that he could teach Doodle anything. The only thing is Brother didn't teach him anything that he did for Doodle's benefit he did it for his own satisfaction. When Doodle had failed and couldn't get up Brother let his pride control him. "I ran as far as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us" (604). The only reason Brother left Doodle is because of his pride. He felt he had spent so much time teaching him things so he could be normal all for nothing, and that aggrevated him. Doodle had just shown extraordinary success by rowing against the current and running as far as he did but for some reason that wasn't enough for Brother. The least that Brother could have done was went back and picked him up helping him back to the house considering all of the energy he had exerted. The only thing that Doodle ever asked of his brother was not to leave him and that is exactly what he

Doodle’s brother taught him these things because he was tired of having a brother who couldn’t do anything. So he taught him, and he pushed Doodle harder and harder so that he didn’t have to deal with him. Showing his family that Doodle could walk, and Doodle’s brother realized what he could accomplish. Doodle’s brother continued to push him until one day, he pushed too hard. He knew a storm was coming, but hesitated at returning home because of Doodle’s failed attempts of running and walking. The brother recognized that a, “streak of cruelty within me awakened. I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind” (Hurst 117). This revealed the side of pride that resulted in death. That too much pride will fill you up, and you will keep continuing it until it

“ I prepared a terrific program for him.” Brother is even pushing him. He also says “I would teach him to run, to swim, to climb trees, and to fight.” He's saying he will and he is very determined because he wants a normal brother.” I should have already admitted defeat, but my pride wouldn't let me.” brother says he couldn't stop trying to get Doodle to run, swim, and fight like other kids but his pride wouldn't let him. He even admits that he was very

In the last part of the quote the narrator describes how “[he] was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” This selfishness in him shows how Doodle’s brother had cared about his image much more than his brother. Furthermore, another factor that comes from being prideful is harm, which can hurt the closest ones. As Doodle and his brother were coming back in the rain from one of their practices to get Doodle to be “normal,” his brother abandoned Doodle. “Brother, Brother, don’t leave

After Doodle learns to walk with the aid from his brother, the narrator thinks, “they did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose 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 419). This statement conveys how the embarrassment felt by Doodle’s brother is at such a level that he would teach Doodle to walk, due to his shame. Doodle’s sibling thinks so highly of himself, that he wants his brother to not affect his reputation. Another event bringing out the prideful nature of Doodle’s brother happens while teaching Doodle to run, swim, climb trees, and fight.

“Everyone must have something to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine.” Some may see that in this story, pride was a destructive force, but I see pride as the motivation for brothers actions to help Doodle walk. Doodle was born crippled and very weak. The narrator encouraged and helped Doodle walk, and sometimes he used tough-love when teaching him, be he benefited from it. I believe that brother was innocent because if you are proud of something that you worked so hard on, why would you kill it?

One way he indicates this is when he realized that he wasn’t standing up to the role of being a good brother. After contemplating about this, he says with guilt that “There is within [him] (and with sadness [he has] watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as [their] blood sometimes bears the seed of [their] destruction” (2). Hurst encoded a deeper meaning into this. Brother means that he is only pushing Doodle because he loved him; but in that love was hidden a sign of selfishness that Brother carried which was the true reason Brother was pushing Doodle. Later in the story, Doodle feels that he will not be able to finish the training as it was pushing him to far. To motivate him, Brother asks if "[he wants] to be different from everybody else when [he] start school?" (4). Brother tries to show his love on the outside to Doodle as a sign of motivation. He says he only pushes Doodle so he can fit in school. Brother really does love Doodles, but sadly, he hides the truth on why he is training him. Consequently, Brother’s love was the indirect reason for why Doodle dies in the end of the

The Narrator didn't help Doodle walk because he wanted to but because "...I did it for myself; that pride,whose 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"(599). This proves that the Narrator is ashamed of his brother and is only helping him because he doesn't want to be embarrassed. He wantes Doodle to fit in at school and be able to keep up with the other kids. The Narrator always pushes him too far and even though he's helping Doodle do things the doctor thought he could never do he is also making Doodles health

At the beginning of the story, Brother is hateful. Doodle is born and Brother is extremely disappointed by his disabled brother. He always dreamed of having a brother he could run and play with, and

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