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Scarlet Ibis Theme Essay

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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 …show more content…

After many weeks of practicing, for a few moments, Doodle stood up by himself. Eventually, Doodle could walk for a few seconds. One morning the narrator and Doodle decided to show their family that Doodle could walk. The narrator helped Doodle up and “Doodle walked slowly across the room and sat down at his place at the table” (Hurst 5). The narrator took pride in teaching his brother how to walk. Later on, he began to teach Doodle other abilities. But the narrator had only taught his brother how to do other activities for his own benefit. During a storm the narrator and Doodle got trapped in, the narrator left Doodle behind. The narrator was too prideful to turn around and help his brother, and his brother ended up dying. The narrator was selfish in teaching his brother how to walk and more out of embarrassment, and since he got paraded for teaching his brother he continued to help his brother, only to have his brother die. Having too much pride can hurt your loved ones because you are not aware that you have become too selfish to care for others, like your own

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