The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst: Summary

¨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.

Finally, in The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle strives for these objectives because he is dependent on his brother. Perhaps he is even scared that if he doesn’t do what his brother asks, then he will no longer have help from him. This is supported when they are in the loft and the narrator says, “And before I’ll help you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it.” (Page 387). He is threatening to leave Doodle up in the loft, all alone, until he touches the mahogany box which was to be his coffin. Doodle becomes very frightened by this intimidation, which is probably the cause of his fear later in the story. This causes conflict between Doodle and his older sibling because Doodle basically cannot do anything without his brother, and if he is left, he becomes panicked.

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.

Older siblings feel obligated to take authority over their younger siblings. The narrator took the responsibility of teaching Doodle to develop into an ordinary boy; however, he supports Doodle out of selfishness. With this in mind, the narrator changes Doodle’s name from “William Armstrong” to Doodle because he believes Doodle is not strong enough to have that name. He believes “William Armstrong” only “sounds good only on a tombstone,” (595) so changing Doodle’s name was the kindest thing he could have done. Likewise, the narrator selfishly disobeys the doctor’s list of don'ts for Doodle because he doesn’t agree with Doodle’s limitations. In fact, the narrator hauls Doodle carelessly around cotton fields and whips him around corners on two wheels of the go-cart. As a result, the narrator decides to take the next step in teaching Doodle. As school approaches, Doodle falls behind on learning to run, swim, and climb. Therefore, the narrator decides to double his efforts and push Doodle even harder. “I made him swim until he turned blue and row until he couldn’t lift an oar. Wherever we

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

The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst is a story between a boy and his little brother. Doodle is helpless, and is required to be assisted by his older brother. At first, his older brother was irritated about taking him where ever he went, but he grew with it as it went on. Doodle’s brother was tired of having a crippled brother so, “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 112). What the brother did was caring and compassionate, but it resorted back to evil since it was done for the wrong reasons. Doodle’s brother was tired of Doodle being different, and wanted to have a normal brother, which he knew he couldn’t have. He finally figured out when he showed his family that Doodle could walk that his actions were for the wrong reason. In that moment Doodle’s brother realized the truth about pride, “I did not

The tragic death of Doodle is mourned by the entire family as he was very young at the time of his death. In the story "The Scarlet Ibis" a brother tries to teach his little brother to run, swim, walk, and all the other fun activities young children should get to enjoy. The little brother, Doodle, is crippled as he was from birth. Being in this crippled state makes it quite hard for Doodle to perform these activities, yet his brother pushes him beyond

From the start the Narrator didn't want a brother who wouldn't be able to do anything with him. He thought since the beginning what a disappointment Doodle had been and thinks about how "It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all their was unbearable,so I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow"(595). This shows how the Narrator even when Doodle was born never really liked him and was even planing to kill him then. He would be very cruel to Doodle by telling him how everyone thought he was going to die and that he is different from everyone else. He also showes Doodle his mahogany casket and pushes him off the waggon so he wouldn't want to go wherever he went.

His older brother hoped of having a normal brother but despite all the that he helped him try to overcome his disability. His brother gives him a nickname, Doodle, after a doodle bug. The narrator is prideful about him in good times and bad times. Then the brothers spot a bird, the scarlet ibis, and then watch it fall to the ground. Doodle then buries it and goes on.

When Doodle was alive, he had many rules that had to be followed to ensure his safety and although Brother new of the precautions, he didn't follow them, which made him guilty. Brother would only follow them if he was around the house and possibly being looked after by a family member. "As long list of dont's went with him, all of which I ignored once we got out of the

While Doodle walks to the dinner table on his own, Brother says: “They didn’t know that I just did it because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (Hurst). The quote shows how big brothers pride overcomes his love and acceptance of Doodle… How Brother felt humiliated of the disability Doodle was born, additionally, how he was a slave to his own pride. He didn’t want to be acknowledged as the boy with a disabled brother. Brother has been encouraged to help Doodle for his own selfish motives, but at the same time he also experienced guilt for doing

Doodle is incapable of being as active as the narrator. “Everybody thought he was going to die- everybody except Aunt Nicey, who had delivered him.”(-pg. 1) Doodle was born with health condition that make him weaker and incapable of extreme activity. The narrator continued to push him beyond what he could do. “When he was two, if you laid him on his stomach, he began to move himself, straining terribly.”-(pg.2) Doodle couldn't run because if he fell, he wouldn't be able to get up and he would begin straining terribly, but this didn't stop the narrator from forcing him to run and do everything he wanted him to do. “Crawling backward made him look like a doodlebug, so I began to call him Doodle, and in time even Mama and Daddy thought it was a better

In the rising action of the story, no one close to Doodle thought he would be able to walk. “‘I can't walk, Brother,’ he said. ‘Who says so?’ I demanded. ‘ Mama, the doctor-everybody’”

The cruelness the narrator shows over the course of their relationship ultimately killed him. Even when Doodle was a young boy the narrator chose cruel ways to torture his brother. Everyone thought Doodle was going to die as a baby so his parents got a casket built, however remarkably Doodle lived. His parents

Understanding and MmMaturing can beis good orand bad, very much like the pain from exercising, which, in turn, can forceuses one to become stronger. Likewise, the narrator of James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis” experiences this same idea when he pushes his physically handicappedtroubled little brother too far. Afterwards, he learns and matures from the experience. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, the here are two main characters Doodle, the little brother who is physically disabled and the narrator big brother, who is ashamed of Doodlehis little brother’s physical disability. Due to the shame from his little brother, it causes the narrator big brother engages in teachesing his little brother physical activities, bringing both of them to their downfalls.