Pride In The Scarlet Ibis

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.

Brother deliberately killed Doodle because in the story it says, “He was ashamed of having an invalid brother.” Brother intentionally showed Doodle his casket because everyone knew he was going to die. Brother wanted to kill Doodle because they went up to the loft and Brother showed Doodle his casket and told

In “The Scarlet Ibis,” love and pride war in Brother's motivations to help Doodle; his love encourages kindness, but his shame at Doodle's failings results in the cruelty that kills the younger boy. “It is,” I said. “And before I’ll help you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it.”

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

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.

Pride is a leading theme in most of the short stories in the unit. All show that your pride can endanger you or someone else.

Pride can kill you in just a couple seconds. Pride is both something everybody has and wants more of, but if an individual is allowed access to too much pride, they can become hurtful to not only their lives, but also others as well. Too much pride can be considered a very deadly and destructive force. With too much pride, people in modern society, will began to think of you as egotistical or rude, while when someone has less pride than a normal person, they are called self conscious and depressed. You then start to think of yourself as those descriptions. These effects of pride on adults are exaggerated in children due to their constant change in emotions and self concept. This is why, when it comes to Brother in The Scarlet Ibis, he should be viewed as innocent. In this story young Brother has a newborn sibling with some form of deformity. At first, brother is told that Doodle, his sibling, won’t be able to play, or do any activities, because he is not “all there”. He later plots to kill his brother because he doesn’t feel that there is any purpose in living a life that isn’t worth living. When he is about to smother his brother with a pillow, Doodle recognizes his brother and smiles. Brother then realizes his infant brother is “all there”. They spend the next years of their lives together and become best friends. Brother teaches Doodle to walk, swim, run, and climb trees so he can go to school with all the other little kids, and fit in. One day, it starts to rain and they

Brother taught Doodle how to walk this is why Doodle’s death was in Brothers hand. James Hurst says “The lighting was near now, and from fear he walked so close to me he kept stepping on my heels. The faster I walked the faster he walked”. “I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind crying out brother brother don’t leave me.(7) This shows good evidence that is was Brothers fault for doodle’s death. IT wasn't Brothers fault because Brother taught Doodle how to run so he could’ve ran fast and went with brother to avoid his death. Also nature was there for the accident so there was no possible way to avoid that

“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a realistic fiction about these two brothers, Doodle, and Doodle’s brother who was the narrator of the story, many symbols are used. A symbol is a materialistic object being put in place for an abstract or complex emotion, or idea. For example the emojis you use when texting are symbols you use to express how you are feeling. In this story, Doodle is being symbolized by the Scarlet Ibis, the Scarlet Ibis is a bird and a symbol for Doodle because of their many similarities. An example of the Scarlet Ibis symbolizing Doodle is when Hurst describes the physical health of Doodle and the Ibis. He describes Doodle as being very sick and weak at the beginning of the story by saying “He seemed all head, with a tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man's. Everybody thought he was going to die-everybody except Aunt Nicey….” (Hurst page 1). Later on in the story when the Scarlet Ibis is introduced, Doodle’s father describes the bird as: “It looks tired, or maybe sick”(Hurst page 5). By giving Doodle and the Scarlet Ibis such similar physical features, it insinuates that whatever happens to the Scarlet Ibis will more than likely happen to Doodle. Another example of the Scarlet Ibis being a symbol for Doodle is when the Scarlet Ibis dies.” At that moment the bird began to flutter, but the wings were uncoordinated, and amid much flapping and a spray of flying feathers, it tumbled down, bumping through the limbs of the bleeding tree and

Many times we think pride is a good thing, but in this case, it can hurt the ones you love. Webster Dictionary’s definition of pride is, “a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements.” In this story, I will talk about one boy’s pride that comes from the achievements of his brother rather than his own. Rather than celebrating the glory of his brother’s achievements, he lets the pride get to him. This makes him act narcissistic. In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the narrator lets his pride and ambition ultimately destroy his brother.

In The Scarlet Ibis, what evidence does the narrarator use to support his claim that Doodle was a burden in many ways?

Pride can be positive and can help people overcome the difficult struggles they are going through, and can also lead to bonding or getting closer. In this story, the narrator has a disabled brother whos parents and doctor both don’t believe he is able to learn to walk. The narrator doesn’t think of Doodle as a brother, but as someone who is disabled and tries to fix him by helping him learn to walk. One piece of evidence that shows that pride is positive in the story, is when the narrator shows how he cares about Doodle and wants him to get better by helping him learn how to walk. After he got to know Doodle a little bit more he felt more connected and believed that he would learn to walk and put in the effort to help him learn. “I'm going to teach you to walk, Doodle.’ I said. ‘I can't walk brother,’ He said. ‘Who says so?’ I demanded. ‘Mama, the doctor--everybody.’ ‘Oh you can walk”(Hurst 3). This quote shows how pride can lead to helping someone get through something they are struggling with, because it says “I’m going to teach you to walk, Doodle.” he’s very confident in the way he asserts his ability to teach Doodle to walk he does this instead of saying “I am going to try” or asking it as a question “Would you like me to?” These are both less confident ways he could go about asking. Then another part of the quote that stood out was when the author wrote the narrator saying “ ‘Oh you can walk’ ” to his brother, Doodle. He’s dismissing his mother and the doctor who are both older and more knowledgeable than him. This elaborates on the fact that the narrator shows a tremendous amount of pride and arrogance throughout the story. This shows that the narrator had fueled Doodle’s desire to succeed for his brother because the narrator pushed him to be normal, thus Doodle being able to walk. Before everyone told Doodle he could not walk so Doodle did not believe in himself, until his brother pushed him to

Some people can get blinded by their pride and engulf them in a world that makes them unaware of other people and controls their actions and for this reason it lead to cold blooded murder. “The Scarlet Ibis,” by James Hurst is a story of a silent war between two brothers. The setting takes place at a farm during World War 1 a caul baby was brought into this world. The Narrator’s little brother was named Doodle, and he was born with a disability. The Narrator was embarrassed to have a brother that was not normal. The Narrator's pride drove him to make Doodle a normal, ordinary brother. Doodle was never expected to live, but he ended up living to the age of six, however, he still had heart

The despondent mood at the beginning of the story, mirrors the loss of innocence of the narrator because he had to face the responsibility and guilt of Doodle’s death.

(Hook) Motivation, when used to push a person to their highest potential, can cause both greatness and disappointment. (Bridge) In James Hurst’s story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” Brother pushes Doodle to the limit teaching Doodle activities that he would have never had the opportunity to do without the motivation and determination to reach greatness. (FS1) Throughout the journey of learning to walk, swim, and run, Brother motivates Doodle to keep pushing so that he could be like the other kids before he started school. (FS2) Doodle, born physically impaired, tries his best to follow his brother’s orders and make him happy, but this leads him to his death. (FS3) The motivation in this short story is represented by three symbols: the scarlet ibis, the wagon, and the coffin, which all demonstrate the motivation Doodle and Brother have to use to overcome the obstacles they face. (Thesis) Motivation can be used as a compelling force to strive for greatness, but can lead to upsetting results when it is used to the extent as it is in the “Scarlet Ibis,” by James Hurst, which is demonstrated by the symbols of (I) the scarlet ibis, (II) the wagon, (III) and the coffin.