The Consequences Of Brother In 'The Scarlet Ibis'

What is the definition of pride? If someone were to search the definition they would find that pride is “a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.” People can experience pride from many things like success, or intelligence, and even simple petty things being the first to turn in their test in a class. In the story the character Brother has a different type of pride, instead of being prideful of his actions his pride is a character trait. Brother is prideful of himself and having his crippled brother Doodle damaged his pride which is a dangerous thing when pride is a trait instead of a feeling. People often forget about how important a family member, especially siblings, are because they haven’t matured enough to understand the complexity and importance of life and family. In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis” brotherhood is a very big topic throughout it and the character “Brother” demonstrates how complicated and strange being prideful, being a sibling, and being a person, is. Through the story he is characterized as considerate and hurtful through his actions and inner thoughts.

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

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,

In “The Scarlet Ibis,” love and pride war in Brother's motivations to help Doodle; his love encourages kindness, but his shame at Doodle's failings results in the cruelty that kills the younger boy. “It is,” I said. “And before I’ll help you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it.”

Can a person be responsible for some ones death without killing them or if it’s not their intention?

In the story of the Scarlet Ibis the brother in the story is being accused of the murder of his little brother Doodle.

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.

Pride can be a fulfilling quality at times, it can be your antagonist. It often breeds to cruelty. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, written by James Hurst, cruel pride is shown perfectly and tragically. In which Brother, the narrator, wanted a normal brother, a partner who could do leisure activities with. “I thought myself pretty smart at many things, like holding my breath, running, jumping, climbing vines in Old Woman Swamp, and I wanted more than anything else someone to race to Horsehead Landing, someone to box with, and someone to perch within the top fork of the great pine behind the barn, where across the fields and swamps you could see the sea. I wanted a brother.” (Hurst 595). Instead, he was born with “...an invalid brother…” (Hurst 595). So ashamed, he killed his wounded brother trying to make him normal.

Pride, can be either good or bad or maybe both in some situations. Their are many ways to use pride in many situations faced everyday. In the book “The Scarlet Ibis” the narrator uses pride in ways that can be confusing at times and some examples are self explanatory. The story begins with a narrator who has not been assigned a name but we know that he was age 6 when William Armstrong was born. He was born with disabilities and the family even constructed a coffin for him.

We understand well enough how a person with a choice between pride and responsibility, will almost always choose pride. In James Hurst’s short story “The scarlet ibis", brother chooses his pride over responsibility and love. William Armstrong, who was born disabled, was nicknamed “Doodle” by his older brother for the way he crawled backwards like a Doodlebug. He had a hard life due to of his disability, he could not run or play alike any other able-bodied child. When he was born, his family was disappointed and they assumed he wasn’t going to live that long. Brother attempts to train him to be like everyone else on the contrary, he pushes him too hard and expected too much from him. Doodle doesn’t live a long life because overestimated his

Society has always pressured individuals to meet its unrealistically high expectations and those who did not meet the standards were frequently ostracized and labeled as outcasts. In The Scarlet Ibis, James Hurst presents the idea of society manipulating Brother’s perception, which is evident because of Brother rejecting Doodle’s differences and forcefully pressuring Doodle to behave normally. This inevitably results in Doodle to succumbing to the unwanted pressure from his brother to integrate into the norm. Doodle’s family’s perspective on his disability was also molded and influenced by the unreal expectations set by society. The symbolism present in the story was heavily used to represent Doodle’s struggles throughout his journey.

Everyone who has a sibling knows what it feels like to have pride in him/her. However, sometimes people may experience too much pride in the wrong situations. “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst is a story written about the paradox of pride shown by two brothers. A young boy, Doodle, was born in a cual and hasn’t been able to do much. Doodles older brother finds this annoying which cause the other brother to want to change Doodle.

In “ The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst uses indirect characterization through the protagonist’s thoughts towards his younger brother, Doodle, to show that pride can be dangerous and destructive when driven by shame. In the beginning of the story, the family had a coffin made for Doodle and didn’t even name him until he was three months old, because he wasn’t supposed to live. Even though he lived he was invalid and mentally” not all there”, which the narrator thought was worse than not having a brother at all. “It was bad enough having a invalid brother ,but having one who possibly not all there was unbearable, so i began to make plans to kill him…” (2). Hurst uses indirect characterization through the narrator thoughts to show that pride can

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.

“Live everyday like it's your last”(Unknown). Doodle is the younger brother of the narrator. The narrator is refers to as Brother. Doodle is very sick and he was supposed to die when he was a baby. Now he is just living waiting for time to run out, but still trying to be normal. In the story the Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, the theme the love of a brother can blind someone from what’s right and what’s wrong is revealed through foreshadowing and symbolism.