Scarlett Ibis Analysis

Brother’s pride and obsession with helping Doodle succeed actually takes away from his goals to help Doodle. Brother states “I prepared a terrific development program for him” (4). Brother’s original intentions were to teach Doodle how to walk, run, swim, climb trees, and fight, which was a supportive thing for him to do. Although Brother believes that this all will help Doodle develop his skills, he ends up hurting Doodle by overworking him. Later, Brother says, “I should have already admitted defeat, but my pride wouldn’t let me” (4). Since Brother wants Doodle to succeed, he pushes him over the limit, which was a

You can see that pride is something that’s extremely harmful to those close to you when you have too much of it. When someone's pride is hurt, most people will do anything to heal and fix it. That is exactly what Brother does when he sees he will have an invalid brother if he doesn’t do anything. So he sets out to teach Doodle how to do everyday things like walking, eating, and talking. Many people in the world can relate to this because they have had their pride wounded before. The big difference between most situations and Brother’s situation is that they wouldn’t go to such extreme measures. They would eventually see that what they are doing is wrong. However, Brother doesn’t realize this until the end of the story where he finds Doodle’s body, broken and exhausted. Brother seems to realize what he had done and that he had become a slave to his pride. Since Brother was so selfish, his pride got Doodle killed by Brother’s non-stop pushing. The morale of this story is not to love everyone for who they are. The real lesson is that you need to keep yourself in line before you get someone

James Hurst is the author of the heart breaking short story entitled “The Scarlet Ibis”. “The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story about two brothers; one brother is healthy, while the other is physically handicapped. The short story is centered on the idea that the older, healthier brother’s selfishness and pride ultimately led to the death of his younger brother, Doodle. Numerous quotes throughout the story demonstrate Hurst’s use of symbolism and foreshadowing to portray and predict Doodle’s untimely and heartbreaking death.

The narrator knew that his brother could not exert himself too much, yet the narrator constantly pushed his brother over the edge. For example, Hurst writes ¨The doctor had said that he mustn't get too excited, too hot, too cold, or too tired and that he must always be treated gently¨ (352). Even though the narrator knew this information he pushed his brother to learn how to walk, among other things, knowing that it may very well kill his younger brother. That is not the only example of the narrator pushing his brother too hard, in fact at the end of the story the narrator runs away from his brother, knowing that his brother will try as hard as he can to catch up. Doodle would never have been able to catch up, but he kept pushing himself to get to his brother, which resulted in Doodle's death because he overexerted himself trying as hard as he can to catch up with his brother (Hurst, 361). The narrator must have known that is brother would try his best to catch up to him, even knowing this the narrator sprinted away for Doodle and ultimately causing his death. Most, if not all of the narrator’s motives were to cause harm to his brother or to kill

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.

Doodle’s brother taught him these things because he was tired of having a brother who couldn’t do anything. So he taught him, and he pushed Doodle harder and harder so that he didn’t have to deal with him. Showing his family that Doodle could walk, and Doodle’s brother realized what he could accomplish. Doodle’s brother continued to push him until one day, he pushed too hard. He knew a storm was coming, but hesitated at returning home because of Doodle’s failed attempts of running and walking. The brother recognized that a, “streak of cruelty within me awakened. I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind” (Hurst 117). This revealed the side of pride that resulted in death. That too much pride will fill you up, and you will keep continuing it until it

“ 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

In James Hurst's short story, "Scarlet Ibis," life is short is the main message. Since the prelude of the story, it was brought to the reader's attention that Doodle's life comes to an end at a young age. Brother starts off as an arrogant, self indulgent individual and metamorphizes into a benevolent, wise young adult by experiencing the trauma of losing his baby brother due to his own selfish desires. The author manifests that pride which leads to one's downfall. James Hurst proves this theme through conflict; Brother versus Doodle, society, and himself with his struggles.

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.

Not only did pride seize my mentality, it controlled my mother’s. When I was younger, I witnessed my own mother stress my brother over his grades. My older sisters were unusually brilliant in school and my mother didn’t want the streak to be ruined. Almost every evening, she’d sit down with him and they’d have extra practice on assignments and projects. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, Brother forced Doodle to walk. “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him.” (Hurst 597). “‘I just can't do it. Let’s make honeysuckle wreaths.’ ‘Oh yes you can, Doodle,’ I

The metaphors and similes in The Scarlet Ibis create the drama and ironies that effect the characters. “For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis, from the heresy of rain” (6) The Scarlet ibis. The Ibis most prominently symbolizes Doodle because both were weak and beautiful in their own way and taken down by a storm, the storms that represent something else. Brother conveys the storms, like the hurricane and the ibis, Brother is Doodle’s storm, the one that makes him weak. He is like the storm because he takes Doodle so far in strength and distance, but leaves him, like the storm left the Ibis. Whether or not it was intentional or conscious. Brining the story further out the two brothers, symbolize mankind as a whole and the misunderstanding that causes war and silent loathing. There are more simple representations in The Scarlet Ibis, for example on the first page; “The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking the names of our dead.” (1) The Scarlet Ibis. The graveyard flowers symbolize memories and that things always come back. The symbolism create this atmosphere and struggles between the characters that accrue the

This causes the Narrator to be embarrassed of his brother and want to fix the issue by pushing him to learn to walk. This shows that he is being selfish because he's fixing an issue that may seem like he's benefiting Doodle, although this is true, he is really doing it for himself. Most people do not do, or try to do selfish things to people they know or love. This shows that the Narrator does not care or love Doodle and think he's annoying. At the end of the Story when Doodle dies, we see that the Narrator is very sad and want Doodle back. So he went from being selfish, using Doodle, and treating him badly to loving him and being mournful.This is clear change in the Narrator, further proving that he is a dynamic

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

There is a very powerful conflict in the book about Brother’s treatment of Doodle. The quote earlier in the second example shows the root of this problem. He states; “Doodle only walked because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (559). His actions are further explained when he narrates; “There is within me ( and with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, as much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of destruction” (557). This internal struggle causes an emotional power struggle within Brother. On page 563, the boys have a falling out over how hard Brother is pushing Doodle in order to be ‘normal’ for school’, with the quote directly quoting pride “they don’t speak (what words can solder stolen pride?)” (563). The heinous action that triggered the falling out was Doodle falling over from physical exhaustion after being pushed to the limit of his body and shoved a little more. Brother acts as though Doodle’s physical failing directly affects him. Due to the behaviors seen in the former two examples, Brother and Doodle’s pride is seen through conflicts with each

Through point of view, and symbolism The author diligently characterizes Brother as dedicated and prideful helping the reader relate to his undying determination to help Doodle develop. When Brother first discovers how deeply he adored Doodle he is unaware of the severity, he says “ a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” In his moment Brother has developed devotion towards Doodle and Brother’s “pride is a wonderful, terrible thing”. Brother’s pride has several layers alone, excluding other characteristics which come together to artfully make the character. Altogether his pride consists of two major layers; the pride of how far Doodle has come and how far he can go, and the shame of Doodle and how underdeveloped he is physically. Through