Scarlet Ibis Analysis

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.

At the end of the story the theme is unveiled. It’s uncovered specifically when the older brother takes off and leaves Doodle behind in the storm. By the time he decides to go back for Doodle, he is too late to help. Doodle was pushed too hard and left by his older brother, he would never get the chance to finish his training.

In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis”, by James Hurst, the narrator suffers from an internal battle with his own ego to convey the message that pride blinds any because people are, to a degree, naturally selfish. In the beginning of the story, after the narrator presents his family the miracle of Doodle walking, Older Brother starts crying secretly because he knew he made Doodle walk out of his own selfish reasons. When Doodle took his public first steps for the first time the narrator confesses an important reason from his point of view, thinking, “Doodle told them it was I who taught him to walk, so everyone wanted to hug me, and I began to cry. ‘What are you crying for?’ asked Daddy, but I couldn’t answer. They did not know that I did it for myself: that pride,

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

Examples of symbolism in this short story are created by the author that help frame the plot. For instance, in the beginning when the brother is describing Doodle, the brother talks about his physical appearance when he was younger, the author relays with the reader “He seemed all head, with a tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man's” (1). Doodle’s body was red when he was first born and at the time of his death, he was also covered in red blood. Accordingly, since Doodle was red at his time of birth it develops the resolution more because it relates to Doodle’s red death. It also makes the time of his death more descriptive to intrigue the reader more into the plot. This shows symbolism because red is a color that typically represents death. This corresponds with Doodle and his red body at his birth and at his death. Moreover, the author relates the scarlet ibis to Doodle in more ways than one, the author shares with the reader, “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 landing at our feet with a thud” (9). The scarlet ibis was a red bird that Doodle was fond of and it died right in front of him. The bird was a symbol of Doodle because of how it was red and how that correlated to Doodle’s birth and death. It shows the reader how the bird was out of place and how that relates to Doodle because of his disorders that cause him from being like a normal person. In summary, those were some examples of how the author placed symbolism into the story to strengthen the plot.

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 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.

Doodle was born prematurely, so early that he was severely disabled, which his brother never failed to remind him every chance he got. He was made a casket shortly after he was born, as he wasn’t expected to live for a long period of time. The narrator highly disliked is brother, so much that he made him touch his casket, leading to him to realize how he could use Doodle. ‘Doodle was paralyzed, so I put him on my shoulder and carried him down the ladder, and even when we were

He has been characterized as cruel by making Doodle push himself to death. After a very difficult lesson, a storm arose and the two brothers were separated. “When the deafening peal of thunder had died, and at the moment before the rain arrived, I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind, cry out, ‘Brother, Brother, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!’” (182). The narrator has developed into Doodle’s best friend, mentor, and protector. Doodle needed the protection from his brother when he fell behind. At the beginning of the story the narrator would have just left Doodle behind to die, but now that they have grown a relationship, he waited for Doodle to catch up. “‘Doodle!’ I screamed above the pounding storm and threw my body to the earth above his. For a long, long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain” (183). The narrator has developed into affectionate, knowledgeable young adult. This incident is nearing the end of Doodle’s life, and he did not want to lose him. It is also evident that the narrator has become Doodle’s protector. Doodle later dies, the narrator released many sad

The narrator is ashamed of Doodle. When Doodle is born he is born weak, and his family assumed he was going to die but he didn’t. The narrator’s mother tells him that Doodle was either going to die or be not all there. The narrator wants a brother that can adventure with him. He explains, “ It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable, so I began to make plans to kill him by smothering with a pillow”( ).

In “the Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Brother’s motivation to teach Doodle to walk and to try and teach him to run, climb, swim, and row a boat is because of his pride- he’s ashamed to have a crippled little brother. Brother was pride’s slave, “Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having as crippled brother” (Hurst, 319). This shows that Brother only taught Doodle to walk because he was ashamed of having a crippled brother. Brother cries when people hug him for teaching Dooble to walk because he’s embarrassed that he was embarrassed of Doodle and that’s the only reason that Doodle can walk. Brother successfully taught Dooble to walk but felt shameful that pride was the only reason that Doodle knew how to walk but when he fails to teach

Throughout the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst, a theme of negative pride can be evident. This sense of pride is especially affiliated with the narrator, as the story revolves around his brother, who’s eventually downfall was a result of the narrator’s egotism. Overall, pride in this story is interpreted to be a negative thing. To illustrate, when the narrator is pulling his brother in a go-cart, he reflects, “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk” (Hurst 557). This piece of evidence shows negative pride, as the narrator is ashamed of his brother because he couldn’t do what normal kids could do. Despite it being a physical disability that Doodle wasn’t able

In the “Scarlet Ibis,” the narrator learned not to take family (his brother Doodle) for granted. “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.” p. 599 The narrator felt ashamed because he taught Doodle how to walk for only his selfish purposes alone. It was bittersweet to see Doodle walk knowing he was pushing his limits and risking his life because he was already weak at birth. “I lay there crying, sheltering my

In the story, Scarlet Ibis, one of the main characters doodle dies, doodle is disabled and was not able to walk when he was born. His brother, the narrator, taught him how to walk so he could have pride and have someone to play with. The narrator is to blame and it was his fault that doodle is died. In the story is was raining and the narrator and his brother were running away from the lightning. I think that the narrator is at blame for his death because the narrator never really liked doodle. In Scarlet Ibis, it says, “I began to make plans to kill him.” The narrator never really liked doodle and was ashamed of him because he had a disability. He was planning on killing him so it is his fault because if he was planning to kill him he properly

This is a story told by the elder brother about his disabled younger brother. It is about being ashamed about it that drives him to force the little brother to become better or else more normal. When the brother said “..Renaming my brother was probably the kindest thing I ever did for him..” maybe that was not completely true. He taught Doodle to stand and walk. He even wanted him to run, swim and climb tree just like normal kids. But all of this was not only because he really loved him and wanted him to be normal. It was also because he was ashamed to pull him in the cart or to have a disabled little brother who cannot even do normal kids activities even though it was a really toughing moment when he walked in front of his parents the first time. “..They didn't know that I did it just for myself, that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled