The Scarlet Ibis Character Analysis

The family of Doodle knew that he would have a short life so they just kept Doodle in another room so they wouldn’t get attached to him. The older brother showed Doodle his casket and threatened to leave Doodle there which was harsh and unnecessary.

Brother, the narrator also tells the readers what Doodle looks like when he pushes himself to the max. “He had been bleeding from the mouth, and his neck and the front of his shirt were stained brilliant red.” (Hurst 6). This shows that his brother didn't want to consider how far his

¨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.

When Brother set out to teach Doodle to walk and realized he had succeeded he became so proud and was convinced that he could teach Doodle anything. The only thing is Brother didn't teach him anything that he did for Doodle's benefit he did it for his own satisfaction. When Doodle had failed and couldn't get up Brother let his pride control him. "I ran as far as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us" (604). The only reason Brother left Doodle is because of his pride. He felt he had spent so much time teaching him things so he could be normal all for nothing, and that aggrevated him. Doodle had just shown extraordinary success by rowing against the current and running as far as he did but for some reason that wasn't enough for Brother. The least that Brother could have done was went back and picked him up helping him back to the house considering all of the energy he had exerted. The only thing that Doodle ever asked of his brother was not to leave him and that is exactly what he

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.

There could be many things to blame for Doodle’s death, but Brother is to blame in my opinion. He pushed Doodle to hard. When Doodle fell,while they were running, he didn’t go back and help him. Brother should’ve let him develop on his own as well. First off, Brother pushed Doodle to hard.

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

Multiple times throughout this story the narrator attempts to leave Doodle scared and alone, and Doodle calls out to his brother, “Don’t go leave me, brother” (Hurst 418).This shows not only the dependency Doodle has on his older brother, but also the lack of empathy and care that he bestows on Doodle. When the older brother declares that he is going to teach Doodle to walk, his response is, “‘I can’t walk brother”’ (Hurst 418). This shows that, in the beginning, Doodle has little hope for himself, and that he based his accomplishments off of what others thought of him.

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

Doodle was destined to die. To use this course of reasoning, you really have to argue and determine that fate has a huge role of the story. And to remind you the Brother becomes Doodle’s teacher and caretaker. And this doesn’t lead to the right direction. So the brother was Sometimes kind and sometimes

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

Brother is showing Doodle’s unwillingness along with the cruel attempts to point out his flaws. When Brother made doodle touch the coffin, he knew the reaction he would get out of him. “Even when were outside in the sunlight, he clung to me, crying, ‘Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me” ( ). Doodle is very afraid of the coffin and brother knows that. By making him touch the coffin, he is clearly implying to Doodle that he will never be normal like the other kids. On the other hand, no matter how cruel Brother’s actions may be, he still shows interest toward teaching Doodle many tricks. But these actions are clearly for his self gratification. “What are you crying for? asked Daddy, but I couldn’t answer. 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.” Although brother teaches Doodle how to walk, it is entirely for his own sense. Ashamed by Doodle’s crippledness, Brother attempts to fix Doodle’s many imperfections, without acknowledging his view and

Brother throws a pity party for himself during the whole story until Doodle is dead. Unfortunately, the lesson he learned had a terrible ending, but he came to his senses and had a realization that the pride he showed turned him oblivious to the fact that he had basically killed his own blood. That guilt of causing one's death or downfall can do a lot to a person's well being. Brother had pushed Doodle too far physically and mentally and knew what the repercussions would be. Brother chose not to listen to his conscience. In the final part of the short story Brother tests Doodle's ability once more, and forces him to race him in the water. Doodle made it clear that his fatigued body wouldn't allow him to swim and while they were out in the water Brother said,"Doodle did not speak and kept his head turned away, letting one hand trail limply in the water" (563). The death of the scarlet ibis bird had taken quite a toll on Doodle's mental capacity as well. Aunt Nicey definitely never keeps a lid on her thoughts and speaks her mind a lot during the story and says, "Dead birds is bad luck" (562). Of course none of the family members take her comment seriously and if they did maybe that could've changed Doodles fate. Irregardless, Brother would've taken it too far. Brother comes to terms with what he had done wrong to his brother and didn't want to accept

Doodle’s attitude toward fitting in is mild compared to his brother. Doodle does want to fit on and do what others can do. In the story it says, “I made him swim until he turned blue and row until he couldn’t lift an oar”. It means even though Doodle got he still tried to do as his

The narrator feels the need to teach his brother these actions not for Doodle’s sake, but for his pride. In the text it says, “Black clouds began to gather in the southwest, and he kept watching them, trying to pull the oars a little faster” (6). It also states, “Doodle was both tired and frightened” (6). Doodle realizes that his brother won’t let him stop unless he tries intensively. This causes Doodle to be greatly tired as they run from the storm, ultimately causing his death.