Summary Of The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

Brother states in the text, ¨ 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.¨(pg.4). Brother only wanted to teach Doodle how to walk because he was embarrassed for himself, not Doodle, and that is the only reason why he set out to teach him. Another piece of evidence for this topic is, the narrator was ashamed that he only taught Doodle how to walk for his own satisfaction.(pg.6). In this evidence the narrator is admitting that he did wrong and only cares about himself. The last piece of evidence is, ¨School was only a few weeks away, and Doodle was far behind schedule.¨(pg.8). Brother was only teaching Doodle so many skills only because he wanted to look like he had a normal brother at

It was about to rain and Doodle wasn’t really feeling okay so they went home and on the way brother started walking really fast and Doodle was right behind him. He was so close that Brother took the opportunity to make Doodle work harder, even though he made it clear that he was tired. The reason why brother was making doodle run was because he couldn’t stand the thought that his brother is still crippled after his goal of trying to “fix” him. Brother explains this when he says “The knowledge that doodle 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 with a wall of rain dividing us.” Pg11. The only reason why he wants him to walk is because he is so ashamed of doodle that the idea of realizing that his plans to “fix” Doodle was unsuccessful that he left his own crippled brother alone in the rain to die. He did go back for him, but it was too late. He was heartbroken and began to cry he describes his pain when he says “Doodle! I screamed above the pounding sound of the storm and threw my body to the earth above his. For a long time it seemed forever, I lay there crying sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain” pg12. This proves that brother loves Doodle so much that he is actually protecting his brother from rain after he is dead, despite having such brutality towards him for not satisfying his

He made doodle walk even though he didn’t have the physical ability. He made Doodle run through the storm which overworked his body. Brother made him show he was capable of doing things like other kids, so Brother wouldn’t be embarrassed.

¨At six years old, when his brother is born, the narrator tells the reader that from the first, Doodle was "a disappointment." When he learns that Doodle is possibly mentally and physically challenged, the narrator begins his plan to kill his brother; however, his plans are soon discarded after Doodle smiles at him¨. (James Hurst) The main conflict of "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst is Brother's inability to deal with Doodle's disabilities.

In “The Scarlet Ibis,” the author, James Hurst, uses indirect characterization, mainly through the narrator’s internal thoughts and feelings, to convey the theme that disabilities are not flaws in an individual, and that they are mere differences that make each individual unique. Early in the story, the author explains that Doodle, the narrator’s brother, has a deadly heart condition which prevents him from participating in activities such as running, jumping, swimming, and even walking. When Doodle is not expected to live when he is born, the narrator says that he does not want an “invalid” brother, but instead, wants a brother who can run around, jump, and play with him. Even the rest of the family does not believe that he is going to survive, and they do not even name him until he lives for three months. Later in the story, the narrator thinks, “...but he learned to crawl

The narrator regrets how he pushed Doodle far beyond his limits. Now that the Brother is older, he knows how pride can affect him. “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.”(4) When the Brother got Doodle to stand, he was confident in Doodle to accomplish any physical movement. So he expected more and more out of Doodle. But he didn’t know the pain and the danger of trying to exceed the limit of one’s body. Now, after all the years have passed by, the narrator realize that his love for Doodle. “But sometimes (like right now), as I sit in the cool, green-draped parlor, the grindstone begins to turn, and time with all its changes is ground away--and I remember Doodle.”(1) The years have taken away the cruelty and selfishness in the Brother’s early year and he was sorry for how he forced and threatened Doodle. The narrator looks over the cruel moments he had with Doodle and blames Doodle’s death on himself. “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all the other voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.”(5) The voice here is very regretful of his sins, and wants to fix what he had already

In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Hurst illustrates the struggle of one boy with his disability and his and his brothers expectations.

At the beginning, Doodle had been very hesitant to go along with his brother’s plans. He tried to argue with his brother. “I can’t walk, Brother,” Doodle said. “Who says so?” He demanded. “Mama, the doctor, everybody,” uttered Doodle. “Oh, you can walk,” The narrator said.” Shortly after that, Doodle began to follow the narrator’s orders and self ambitions. Soon, the narrator had acquired too much ambition, putting Doodle at risk. This is evident with Doodle’s constant cry, “don’t hurt me, Brother.” Little did the narrator know he would be pushing his brother too far. Later in the story, the narrator let his ambition overcome him and decided to keep on pushing his brother. He did not want a brother who could not do what other normal schoolboys could do. He admits to himself, “the knowledge that Doodle’s and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awakened.” He believed what Doodle could not do would greatly affect him and his social

Without delay the narrator took Doodle to accomplish more than walking; he taught him swimming, rowing, climbing, and swinging. They would work until Doodle could not do anymore, till he couldn’t left an oar or lift his arm to take another stroke. The only reason Doodle did it because his brother would always say, ‘“Aw, come on, 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.’’. (52) In the beginning of the story it talked about how Doodle would turn blue and almost black in the face as he was straining just to get up and crawl. Likewise when in the ending he said he knew that he was pushing his brother to run faster and Doodle had never done that before so he was struggling and ended up dying.

Could pride take over a person's life? In "The Scarlet Ibis" written by James Hurst, the Narrator was the only son of the family, as far as he was at the age of six, the Narrator had a brother. He loved his little brother, but the Narrator's family has thought that Doodle would not survive the main issue of his life and not being able to do stuff. The Narrator and his family finally had seen that he could talk, and there was no sign of walking. The Narrator had to take his bother everywhere he had to go in his little go-cart. Which though the Narrator had been tired of carrying him around in the the go-cart, which, made him think that he can teach Doodle how to walk. Everyone was amused that Doodle could walk and now the Narrator for his pride of making him walk had consumed his mind and pressured Doodle to do more thinks before summer was over and start school. In the last week, before school started, in the bloody tree there was a Scarlet Ibis and fell down with no coordinated and died fragile, feathers everywhere. After that afternoon the Narrator's pride had vanished and ran home and left his brother who had fallen down.The moment that the Narrator had realized that he had pressured him and look for Doodle, he had died so similar to the Scarlet Ibis, delicate, blood all over ad with no coordination. For this reason, the Narrator is innocent and had not having nothing to do with his brother recognizing

Pride Overcomes Judgement James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis” is about the battle between love and pride and reveals that pride alters people’s perception of loved ones capabilities demonstrated by symbolism. James Hurst’s use of symbolism suggests that the Scarlet Ibis is a symbol of Doodle’s life and his journey to be able to walk, even though his disabilities challenge that. The narrator teaches Doodle to walk out of this embarrassment towards him, all because he isn’t like a “normal” six year old kid. After he successfully teaches his brother, Doodle, to walk he lets his pride and embarrassment alter his perception and pushed Doodle to his maximum capability.

In fact, Doodle’s death is caused by his own brother’s selfishness. Near the resolution of the story, Doodle fails to complete Brother’s training program and collapses into the mud. Brother declares, “ He had failed and we both knew it, so we started back home, racing the storm. We never spoke, but I knew he was watching me, watching for a sign of mercy” (182). The narrator ignores Doodle’s plead for forgiveness and begins to sprint.

The narrator's pride. Well, first we see that the narrator is embarrassed by having Doodle as his brother. We can see that when he says “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 353). Other places he shows his pride is in (Hurst 356) “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.” His pride has gotten too much in his head and started going harder on Doodle.

Simon Birch and “The Scarlet Ibis” both reveal that pride can have negative effects, especially when the concern for one’s self image is his motivation. When a person tries to save their pride by hiding an aspect of themselves, it will have consequences. Trying to have people perceive oneself as something they are not can lead to feelings of guilt and distrust. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, the narrator teaches his brother, Doodle, how to walk. His parents are proud of Doodle and of him.

In “The Scarlet Ibis,” James Hurst, shows internal conflict in the narrator, demonstrating the theme that one’s pride for their family can corrupt them internally. The narrator never liked Doodle in the first place, nonetheless he begins to teach him, this made the narrator prideful of Doodle. In the middle of the story, “[he realized] that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” (7). This shows that the narrator has already realized that he is being affected by pride.