Hurst: A Brief Summary Of Hurst's Story

Multiple times throughout this story the narrator attempts to leave Doodle scared and alone, and Doodle calls out to his brother, “Don’t go leave me, brother” (Hurst 418).This shows not only the dependency Doodle has on his older brother, but also the lack of empathy and care that he bestows on Doodle. When the older brother declares that he is going to teach Doodle to walk, his response is, “‘I can’t walk brother”’ (Hurst 418). This shows that, in the beginning, Doodle has little hope for himself, and that he based his accomplishments off of what others thought of him.

Hurst utilizes foreshadowing to demonstrate how the brother’s selfishness and pride leads to the death of Doodle. Not long after Doodle was born, the mother explains to the brother that Doodle might be mentally handicapped as well as physically handicapped. The brother could not accept the fact that his brother is different, so he “began to make plans to kill him [Doodle] by smothering him in his sleep” (Hurst 1). From the very beginning, Doodle’s brother is unable to except the fact that his brother is not normal and never will be. His selfishness and pride leads him to want to kill

Many years later, later in the story, when Doodle is around five years of age, it occurs to the narrator that it may be a good idea to teach Doodle to walk so that he fits in with his peers. After finally convincing him, they both secretly set out to teach Doodle how to walk. During this process, the narrator thinks, “There is within me (and with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction...” (10). In this part of the story, Hurst again uses indirect characterization through the narrator’s thoughts, to demonstrate, once again, the theme that disabilities are not flaws, and that they should be respected and embraced. By saying, “...borne by the stream of love,” the narrator is trying to bring out what they have in common instead of their differences, and he is saying that Doodle’s disability does not change the fact that they are connected and share the mutual love of two

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

Older siblings feel obligated to take authority over their younger siblings. The narrator took the responsibility of teaching Doodle to develop into an ordinary boy; however, he supports Doodle out of selfishness. With this in mind, the narrator changes Doodle’s name from “William Armstrong” to Doodle because he believes Doodle is not strong enough to have that name. He believes “William Armstrong” only “sounds good only on a tombstone,” (595) so changing Doodle’s name was the kindest thing he could have done. Likewise, the narrator selfishly disobeys the doctor’s list of don'ts for Doodle because he doesn’t agree with Doodle’s limitations. In fact, the narrator hauls Doodle carelessly around cotton fields and whips him around corners on two wheels of the go-cart. As a result, the narrator decides to take the next step in teaching Doodle. As school approaches, Doodle falls behind on learning to run, swim, and climb. Therefore, the narrator decides to double his efforts and push Doodle even harder. “I made him swim until he turned blue and row until he couldn’t lift an oar. Wherever we

The older brother of Doodle was ashamed of Doodle ever since he was born he actually made plans to kill Doodle when he was a baby. He was rough with Doodle on purpose so Doodle wouldn’t want to go with him. He didn’t do anything for Doodle out of love he did it so he wouldn’t have a crippled brother.

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

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

At the beginning of the story, the narrator is displeased about his handicapped brother, as the narrator feels let down by his healthy sibling misfortune. One obvious signal of this mentality is the quote provided early in the story, as the narrator mentions “I made plans to kill him… he was a burden in many ways” (1,2). Although that statement may seem slightly exaggerated to the reader, it still does provide the reader an idea about the feelings that the narrator is demonstrating toward Doodle. However, rather than the narrator remaining eternally perplexed about his brother’s health condition, the narrator eventually decides to help his brother with his quest, and once he accomplishes this task, he explicitly showcases his feelings proclaiming “I cried, and he cried too… the grass beneath us was soft and the smell of the swamp was sweet” (3). As it is clearly stated, the collectiveness between accomplishing the goal was shared amongst both of them, as the descriptiveness of the swamp and grass further indicates this positive nature.

Brother knew that Doodle had disabilities, but instead of accepting it he tried to push Doodle into learning the normal ways of life. When Doodle was a baby he tried to do things on his own for example, he would push himself up until he turned purple, which was not healthy. Brother also tried to teach Doodle how to swim, walk, and talk. Pushing him could have caused emotional damage and false hope. When Doodle was learning how to walk, he would get up and then eventually he would fall down.

Doodle’s family cared about him and wanted him to be the happiest and the best person that he could be. Even living with his condition, preventing him from living a “normal” life. When Doodle’s family discovered that he had learned to walk they were overwhelmed

Another reason is the narrator pushed Doodle too hard so Doodle can fit what he wanted as a brother. He wanted to get Doodle to walk so he can fit in with the other

Throughout the short story, James Hurst uses diction and figurative language to describe Doodle as devoted. The narrator asserts, “Doodle, don’t you want to learn to walk? He’d nod his head and I’d say, ‘Well if you don’t keep trying, you’ll never learn.’” (Hurst 32). James Hurst uses imagery to show how much Doodle wants to learn how to walk. Even though sometimes Doodle wanted to give up, he nods his head showing he wants to walk. The narrator claims, “Then I’d paint for him a picture of us as old men, white haired, him with a long white beard and me still pulling him around in the go-cart. This never failed to make him try.” (Hurst 32). Hurst uses imagery and diction to show that Doodle is sometimes disappointed, but still has some devotion. He is devoted even though sometimes he might need a little

Brother is a very caring and helpful brother. In Doodle’s early years, his parents and doctors all told him he would never be able to walk, meaning