Shared Humanity In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

Have your parents ever told you that you needed to improve at something? It could be a sport, activities, or even how well you do in school. This is a vile thing for parents to do to their children. Sometimes parents just need to back up a few steps and let you be yourself. The same can happen with an older sibling! That is the case in The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst. The narrator of this story has a younger brother called Doodle, who has some health issues. Big brother pushes little brother to be better than he is. In The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle strives for the goals that his brother sets for him for many reasons, which reflects the conflict in the story.

In a world of empathy and selfishness, one must always prevail. The short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst tells a tale of a young boy and his disabled younger brother, Doodle. The narrator, also known as Brother, recalls the life of his brother and how his own actions and emotions affect his brother’s experiences. Brother’s pride determines whether he acts empathetic or selfish towards his sibling. In “The Scarlet Ibis” Hurst uses diction, symbolism, foreshadowing, and imagery to fabricate a remorseful mood as Brother looks back on his past, a compassionate feeling when the ibis dies, and a regretful mood when Doodle dies.

What makes us human? What makes us human is our curiosity and constant evolution. What makes us human is the ability to create social categories and to form opinions. Abstract emotions including love, thought and creativity are what make us human. In 1984, George Orwell uses his dystopia to show that if we were to abolish these abstract emotions we would cease to be human and become the simple primates we once were; surviving for the sake of survival.

In “The Scarlet Ibis” James Hurst symbolizes the narrator’s brother, Doodle, as the scarlet ibis, and the narrator as the storm, in order to reveal the theme that challenging someone to go beyond their limits can help in achieving extraordinary results, however pushing the limits too far may prove fatal. As the narrator, Doodle, and their family were eating dinner, they saw a scarlet ibis getting carried by the storm and “[tumbling] down, … landing at [their] feet with a thud”. Doodle’s family doesn’t care much, however, Doodle takes time to respect the bird and to bury it, even though he saw the bird for the first time as if he had some special connection with the ibis. “It’s a scarlet ibis! … South America to Florida. A storm must have brought it here. A scarlet Ibis! How many miles it had traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree” (14). The bird, native to South America had flown all the way from “South America to Florida”, which was way beyond its natural capacity. Doodle had also come a long way from being a baby who everyone thought wouldn't survive or a cripple who couldn’t stand. “A storm … brought it here”, somewhat assisting it and somewhat forcing it. Doodle learned to walk, with help from the narrator who pushed him and didn’t let him give up. Now the narrator was pushing Doodle, even more, to learn rowing, swimming, and fighting even though his body and heart were weak. The storm had powered the amazing flight but pushed the bird’s

“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst compares one of the protagonists, Doodle to a bird called the Scarlet Ibis. Doodle has heart problems and during the 1900s medical care is not as advanced as it is today so he is not able to receive the proper medical care that he needs. Despite popular opinion, Doodle survives and constantly falls behind all of his classmates. Doodle’s brother always dreamed of playing catch and games together is determined have a “normal” brother. Brother pushes and pushes until Doodle can’t take it anymore and sadly dies alone on the side of the street similar to the Scarlet Ibis. This bird arrives in their family’s yard and is too weak to continue which can be compared to Doodle. Through appearance and symbolism the Scarlet

James Hurst’s The Scarlet Ibis is set in a time where disabilities are not accepted because they are misunderstood. For Doodle’s brother, this means living in shame of his sibling’s incapacity. Born miniscule and fragile, Doodle has a coffin prepared for him in the instance of his death. Even though Doodle survives, he grows to lack the ability to walk and complete other physical tasks. Instead of accepting Doodle as he is, Brother trains Doodle to do simple tasks, such as walking, running, and swimming; although, Brother’s motivation is not honorable. Brother’s pride is what incites him to coach Doodle until he reaches his limit. Brother and Doodle train throughout Doodle’s life. The author uses weather to show the various stages of Doodle’s

“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a story about two brothers, one who had physical and mental disabilities and wasn’t able to do most things that other kids his age could do. Brother would constantly try to make Doodle “normal” by forcing him to do things that he wasn’t supposed to be doing, all because he didn’t want to have a brother who was different. One night during a hurricane Brother and Doodle were running home and Doodle couldn’t catch up so he ended up getting left behind and shortly died. Brother is responsible for Doodle’s death because in the story he admits that he tried killing Doodle before, and he was always rude to him.

In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, characters Brother and Doodle have a complex relationship. Most of their problems come from the ableist Brothers pride, towards Doodles disability. Before Brothers influence Doodle was perfect content with himself and his life, until pride started to effect their relationship for better and for worse. Brothers pride was both damaging and reviving for Doodle and his relationship.

In James Hurst’s short story, “The Scarlet Ibis,“ James Hurst shows that pride can be both a positive and harmful force by showing how the narrator's pride both positively and negatively affects Doodle. The Scarlet Ibis is about Doodle, a young boy who was born with a defect that stops him from being able to be active like a normal boy, and the narrator, who is doodle’s older brother trying to get doodle to be like a normal boy. Although the narrator is able to get Doodle walking, he pushes Doodle too hard to be like him, and Doodle dies. When Doodle’s family is elated celebrating Doodle’s birthday and him being able to walk because of the narrator, the narrator is ashamed of himself because of the reason why he taught Doodle to walk. “They

Storms and Sorrow “It’s strange that all this is still so clear to me, now that summer has long since fled and time has had its way,” ( Hurst 595). James Hurst’s short story The Scarlet Ibis is full of symbolism. The use of symbolism does a great deal to add to the tone of the story by allowing large concepts to be depicted simply and subtlety, such as the characters’ emotions and the misfortune that befalls Doodle. The symbols that James Hurst uses range from the colors of the settings the characters are in to the scarlet ibis from which the book draws its name, with many others in between. By far the most important symbol Hurst uses is the ibis, because not only does it foreshadow the death of Doodle and his determination to survive, but shows that both it and Doodle were thrust into worlds where they were incapable to live and thrive.

In the short story, The Scarlet Ibis, James Hurst, characterizes the narrator who is a self - centered and an egotistical boy who is ashamed of his brother, however, throughout the novel crucial events that occur with Doodle that transform into a more thoughtful man. When Doodle was born in the family, he had many malfunctions, causing him to live for a couple days. As three months passed the parents named him William Armstrong, which the narrator thought was a great name on a tombstone. The narrator has an invalid brother, which he tries to kill with a pillow because he was embarrassed and thought a brother who is not there is unbearable. Although Doodle failed many times at walking, the narrator never gave up because he was filled with pride

The short story I am basing of is the “Scarlet Ibis”. The book was written by James Hurst and is tragedy. The brother I am choosing is going to be the unnamed brother from “Scarlet Ibis”. The story is about a boy who wants a brother to play with but when he gets a brother, he is challenged physically and in the beginning they thought he was mentally challenged to. The brother in the story cares about his brother but his tolerance of his disabilities throughout the story dwindles. I think that the character is not totally understanding of his brothers issues and the good deeds he does throughout the story are for wrong reasons. The brother is Intolerant, cruel, and misunderstanding.

Family is such a central aspect of all of our lives that it affects us in both negative and positive ways, as is seen with the characters in Jandy Nelson’s novel, I’ll Give You the Sun. In this novel, two twins are the focus, but all the characters are intertwined within each other as they have all crossed paths at one point, not realizing it until the end of the story. Before diving into the relationships among them though, it is important to note that this story is told in a unique way in that it is told from different periods of time from the two twins -- so that neither character knows the full story of their lives until the end.

The short story "The Scarlet Ibis" was written by James Hurst. This story is about a little boy who is physically weak. When he was first born he was expected to die, and his family made him a coffin. Well, he did not die, but new he has a hard time doing other things. The character Doodle can best be described as a creative and sensitive person.

Have you ever read a short story that seemed to fit together perfectly? “The Scarlet Ibis,” a short story by James Hurst, was interesting because of how the exposition states that Doodle was supposed to die, but in the rising action, Doodle learns to walk, but it was tragic when he died in the end. My favorite part was how the story ended. In the resolution, the author puts in detail on how he died. You could really understand how his brother felt. What makes this story fit together is how the author controls the element of the plot.