The Relationship Between Brother And Doodle's The Scarlet Ibis

Most people would come to believe the fact that an ibis cannot relate to a human being, but that can be proven wrong. Throughout the story, Doodle and the ibis were persistent, yet active, due to the fact that they never gave up. In the story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” by James Hurth, Doodle is a boy who has physical weaknesses, so it is difficult for him to do things that a normal child would be able to do. Most ibis are able to fly, however, the scarlet ibis is not capable because it has its own weaknesses. As Doodle grows up, he gains these negative energies from his surroundings that makes him feel as if he won’t be able to survive as long.

‘I won’t touch it,’ he said sullenly. ‘Then I’ll leave you here by yourself,’ I threatened, and made as if I were going down. Doodle was frightened of being left. ‘Don’t leave me, Brother,’ he cried” (2). This proves that Brother showing Doodle his casket was a heartless and cruel thing to do especially if Doodle is already having health issues and he hasn’t done anything to Brother that results in him treating Doodle that way. Brother implanted a fear of being left alone and the thought of death on Doodle, which shows that Brother was leading Doodle to think negatively at such a young age. Moving on, Brother explains the reasoning for why he was cruel

Brother deliberately killed Doodle because in the story it says, “He was ashamed of having an invalid brother.” Brother intentionally showed Doodle his casket because everyone knew he was going to die. Brother wanted to kill Doodle because they went up to the loft and Brother showed Doodle his casket and told

The quantities of pride hidden behind Brother’s “good deeds” would not end successfully. From page 5: “There is within me (and with sadness I have seen it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to Doodle.” This suggests that Brother knows he can be cruel to his brother, and he knows this relates to his love for Doodle. It also demonstrates how he was mean to Doodle plenty of times. How much could he have loved Doodle to do what he did to him? There is no answer, but one thing is true. It was mean. Very mean. From page 12: “I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind, cry out, ‘Brother, Brother, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!’ My knowledge that Doodle’s 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... Soon I could hear his voice no more” This implies that Brother did indeed have a sense of cruelty, and a very bad one at best. It also shows that his plans to “help” Doodle were only driven by pride and greed. How could someone leave their brother to die only because they could not reach their

¨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.

This is shown when it says “So I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow.”(Hurst 595)Since the beginning he didn’t want an invalid brother. He even thought and male plans to kill him. If Doodle wasn’t bothering him or doing anything to him then why would he want to kill him? Doddles brother was just thinking about himself the whole time.” 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 a crippled brother.”(Hurst 599) He did not do it for Doodles good, he never even thought of how Doodle felt. His pride was stronger than him. Because he was ashamed of Doodle , that made him push doodle way too hard for someone like him. Until the end is when he realizes that what he did to Doodle was wrong but it’s too late. The author shows this when he says “I ran as fast as I could, leaving him behind …Finally I went back and found him … “Doodle! Doodle!” I cried, shaking him, but there was no answer…” (Hurst 604) He ran as fast as he could to make

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.

In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis”, the Brother pushed Doodle to learn how to walk, swim, run and various activities so that Doodle would not seem to be crippled. Through the Brother's characterization, conflicts and eventual resolution, Hurst suggested that one's overwhelming selfishness, pride and cruelty can result in the death of a loved brother.

On page 350, Brother tries to train Doodle to be able to keep up with the other kids at school. “School was only a few weeks away, and Doodle was far behind schedule … Wherever we went, I purposely walked fast, and although he kept up, his face turned red and his eyes became glazed. Once, he could go no further, so he collapsed on the ground and began to cry. ‘Aw come one 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.” page 350. This quote shows that Brother isn’t just afraid for himself. Brother is afraid for Doodle as well. Brother wants Doodle to fit in at school, knowing that the other kids at school could be cruel to Doodle because of his disabilities. Later in the story, after Brother pushes Doodle far beyond his limit causing him to die, he regrets what he did Doodle. “I began to weep, and the tear-blurred vision in red before me looked very familiar. ‘Doodle!’ I screamed above the pounding storm, and threw my body to the earth above his. For a long, long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain.” pg 354. This quote shows that Brother cares about Doodle and loves him, because seeing Doodle die made him feel very sad and guilty about how he pushed Doodle far beyond his limit, leading to

Doodle, a young disabled boy, is a burden to his Brother . Brother, is very ashamed and embarrassed of Doodle. The story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst shows how Doodle is like the Scarlet Ibis. Doodle and the Scarlet Ibis have many of the same conflicts and repeating actions in the story. In “The Scarlet Ibis,” Hurst develops the symbolism, which is shown through birds, death, and the color red shows how fragile Doodle really is during his lifetime.

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.

In the story The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, the author shows many similarities between the narrator's little brother Doodle and an exotic bird. While reading through the story the young boy is not thought very highly of. No one including, the doctors, ever thought Doodle would live past a couple days. But Doodle did just that, he lived for 6 whole years. His parents even named him William Armstrong, because they thought it would look good on a tombstone. His brother later renamed him Doodle because with that kind of name no one would expect much from him. Doodle had many obstacles growing up and didn’t really fit it. While going through life Doodle was constantly trying to prove that there was a reason for his life. Doodle’s brother tried very to have a normal little brother, so he pushed him in many ways to enable him to do normal things. Doodle could not stand up or crawl and when he did he crawled backwards, earning him the name Doodle. The brothers says to Doodle, “Aw, come on, Doodle,” I urged. “You can do it. Do you want to be different from everybody else when you start school?”

Every big sibling has scared or teased a younger sibling before, however, scaring them even when they are told to be careful of not putting your younger brother under too much stress or he will die, is very risky. When the narrator makes Doodle touch his casket even when he doesn’t want to, the narrator threatens to leave him up there. Doodle was frightened of being left so he touched it. Once he touched it he screamed and was paralyzed. Once the narrator picked him up and climbed out, Doodle was crying and said, “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me.” (49) With this in mind in the end of the book he had

The biggest reason Brother is guilty for Doodle's death is when he taught Brother to walk. Doodle at five years-olds could barely stand on his own two feet. "Finally one day, after many weeks of practicing, he stood alone for a few seconds" (598). Now because Doodle can walk, Brother thinks Doodle can accomplished many more things like swimming and climbing trees. Brother didn't do it to help Doodle though, he it did for himself. He was completely embarrassed by Doodle. Brother, driven by his pride, helped Doodle everyday hoping that he would learn to be a better person.

Brother might not have understood but he did and the result of it is Doodle dying. Some people might say that Brother was innocent of killing Doodle, but he wasn't! Brother was being rather selfish and pushing Doodle around. Also, Brother has never really appreciated Doodle.