Scarlet Ibis Pride Quotes

The quantities of pride hidden behind Brother’s “good deeds” would not end successfully. From page 5: “There is within me (and with sadness I have seen it in others) 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.” This suggests that Brother knows he can be cruel to his brother, and he knows this relates to his love for Doodle. It also demonstrates how he was mean to Doodle plenty of times. How much could he have loved Doodle to do what he did to him? There is no answer, but one thing is true. It was mean. Very mean. From page 12: “I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind, cry out, ‘Brother, Brother, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!’ My knowledge that Doodle’s and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awakened. I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind... Soon I could hear his voice no more” This implies that Brother did indeed have a sense of cruelty, and a very bad one at best. It also shows that his plans to “help” Doodle were only driven by pride and greed. How could someone leave their brother to die only because they could not reach their

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,

On page 350, Brother tries to train Doodle to be able to keep up with the other kids at school. “School was only a few weeks away, and Doodle was far behind schedule … Wherever we went, I purposely walked fast, and although he kept up, his face turned red and his eyes became glazed. Once, he could go no further, so he collapsed on the ground and began to cry. ‘Aw come one Doodle,’ I urged. ‘You can do it. Do you want to be different from everybody else when you start school?’ ‘Does it make any difference?’ ‘It certainly does,’ I said.” page 350. This quote shows that Brother isn’t just afraid for himself. Brother is afraid for Doodle as well. Brother wants Doodle to fit in at school, knowing that the other kids at school could be cruel to Doodle because of his disabilities. Later in the story, after Brother pushes Doodle far beyond his limit causing him to die, he regrets what he did Doodle. “I began to weep, and the tear-blurred vision in red before me looked very familiar. ‘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.” pg 354. This quote shows that Brother cares about Doodle and loves him, because seeing Doodle die made him feel very sad and guilty about how he pushed Doodle far beyond his limit, leading to

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.

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.

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

“ 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

He happens to be jealous of the attention Doodle gets and remains embarrassed by Doodle's difference and also annoyed at the fact that he had to take Doodle everywhere with him. Barely tolerating the fact that Doodle was different from everyone else and strived to teach him "normal" things but not for Doodle's own good. "So I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow", Brother says (417). This arises the source of deep shame for Brother. This shows Doodle's extreme vulnerability, while showing just how disturbed Brother is by the idea of Doodle's difference.

In most cases people view pride as something bad, but in this case, pride becomes the incentive for Doodle’s brother and motivates him to push his younger sibling during the process. While pride and shame motivate the narrator to teach his younger brother, Doodle benefits by learning to walk. All of the narrator’s nasty comments shape Doodle, making him a stronger person in the end. Doodle’s brother believes he will find contentment if Doodle could only run, swim, climb trees, and fight like other boys.

At times, Doodle’s brother takes advantage of his loving and forgiving nature and is cruel to him. “There is within me […] a knot of cruelty born by a stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction and at times I was mean to Doodle” (Hurst 3). Although Brother truly loves Doodle, he takes advantage of Doodle’s kind and naïve personality. This metaphor from Brother equates cruelty coming from a source of love to a bad situation coming from a mistake that one made, for example, his bullying behavior to Doodle. Brother, looking back, has deep remorse for being cruel to Doodle, because each time Doodle would come back to him out of trust and admiration for his sibling. Doodle’s love for his brother leads him to be easily manipulated to do what his brother wants, even if it is not out of loving intent. “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 in a go-cart, this never failed to make him try again” (Hurst 4). Brother’s form of

Identity Hidden in Pride In “The Scarlet Ibis,” James Hurst uses internal conflicts between Brother’s pride and intentions to demonstrate that actions influenced by pride are an imperfect reflection of one’s identity. Early in the story, the protagonist, Brother, is embarrassed by Doodle, his little brother, who cannot walk at the age of five. Without letting his parents know, Brother successfully teaches Doodle to walk.

Is pride powerful enough to come between two brothers? "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst showes that the Narrator is thinking more about his own pride and less about his brother Doodle. He didn't like the facts that he would have a brother who wasn't all there or who is different from everyone else. Even when he showes Doodle how to walk he didn't do it to help Doodle but for his own pride. The Narrators pride taking over is what killed Doodle in the end and is why the Narrator is guilty of his brothers death.

In “The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst shows the readers how pride can cause people to do cruel or fickle things, and it can blind them to what is actually happening. At one point in the story, Big Brother has just taught Doodle how to walk and is showing his family when he starts crying. He says remorsefully, “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 crippled brother.” (Hurst 559). This shows how guilty Brother feels because his family thinks that he is helping Doodle from the goodness of his heart, but Brother’s true motivation is his own pride. Pride caused Brother to teach Doodle to walk, which could have resulted in Doodle getting hurt, making his actions thoughtless and reckless. His pride is stemmed from his success in teaching Doodle such a skill, but it also stems from his desire to not be dragged down by the weight of having a useless brother. Later on, Brother starts to become prideful and confident in his actions, and decides that he will teach Doodle everything he knows. “Once I had succeeded in teaching Doodle to walk, I began to believe in my own infallibility, and I prepared a terrific development program for him, unknown to Mama and Daddy of course” (Hurst 559). At this point, Brother’s success and pride have started to blind him to any potentially harmful consequences. Brother even decides to keep Doodle’s training a secret from his parents, not as a surprise, but because he does not want anyone to steal the accomplishment from him, and he believes he can do it by himself. As the story progresses, Brother’s pride becomes a dangerous influence that leads Brother to push Doodle to far, and ends up killing him as a result. This is similar to the fatal cost of pride in “The

The theme in short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is being too prideful can hurt your loved ones because of your selfishness. This theme is shown throughout the short story, and is first introduced when the narrator begins to help his brother because he is ashamed of the disabilities he has. Doodle, the narrator’s brother, was not born healthy and normal as he should’ve been. No one had hope that Doodle would survive past three months. The narrator had thought “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who was possibly not all there was unbearable” (Hurst 2). This begins the embarrassment that the narrator has of his brother. Later in the short story, the narrator decides to teach his disabled brother how to walk after

The author explains that brother only taught Doodle to walk because of his pride. He compares being a slave to how brother feels about why he taught Doodle to walk. The author also states that pride has two sides to it. He compares pride to a seed that bears two sides, one side being life, and the other is death. “ Pride is the parent of destruction; pride eats the mind and the heart and the soul alive” - Anne Rice. This quote explain how pride can change things for the worse, it is saying that pride leads to many terrible things. In the story “ The Scarlet Ibis,” Brother realizes how dangerous pride can be, but he realizes this too late. He let his pride fuel his decisions, and as the quote states, Brother let pride eat his mind, heart, and soul. The result of his actions was grief and