The Scarlet Ibis Pride Analysis

Pride is a boomerang that will eventually come back to hit you. In John Hurst’s short story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” Brother’s pride changes how he sees Doodle as his brother, and negatively affects the outcome of the story. Throughout the story, one learns how the relationship between two brothers can break apart due to one’s pride. Pride can derail one from achieving goals while destroying relationships.

In the the story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James, Hurst shows his audience that self pride is a positive aspect in this story, it can help people get through difficult obstacles they have in life, but when people worry too much about their self pride it can lead to hurting others physically and mentally.

In many cultures, coming of age is often celebrated because children become young adults who grasp self-awareness and accountability. At the same time, childhood is threatened by responsibility, which is dreaded because there is an unpredictable world of adulthood waiting with no guarantees. James Hurst demonstrates the journey of growing up through life experiences everyone goes through in the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis”. Throughout his use of mood, setting, and symbolism, Hurst shows that maturing requires reflecting on past experiences and losing innocence, which then can transform one’s outlook on life.

Another example of pride would be with John Proctor. John Proctor was your everyday man. He was a farmer, he claimed to be Godly though he was said to never attend church. Not attending church then was very frowned upon and even considered a horrible sin. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor, was accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams. Abigail did this to get revenge because Elizabeth fired her. Elizabeth did this because Abigail had an affair with John. He would not confess to being associated with the Devil because it was not true and he did not want shame brought to his name. Though his wife talked him into confessing, he would not sign his name to the paper. Not only did he not sign his name; he also ripped up the papers. This shows a great deal of pride as well, being that he would not confess because of the way society would look at him thinking that he was associated with the Devil.

Brother demonstrates an overwhelming amount of pride toward Doodle. For example, he uses Doodle as his prized possession: “But all of us must have something or someone to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine” (337). Brother uses Doodle’s innocence and fragileness to his own benefit. In this instance, it is revealed that Brother’s pride has taken over his mind. He is determined to make Doodle normal. In fact, he is so obsessed with making his little brother normal that he keeps making Doodle perform tasks where he exerts an excessive amount of energy: “I should have already admitted defeat, but my pride wouldn’t let me” (340). Brother has put in a lot of time trying to make Doodle normal that he cannot stop until he has made his brother normal. He feels that he has put himself through so much that there is no turning back. Brother uses Doodle as his form of his prized possession, so to him, Doodle must be absolutely normal.

Pride, a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements (Google Dictionary). The Scarlet Ibis demonstrates the strength of pride throughout the story. It is written by James Hursts, about two brothers, one whom, “did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death(Hursts 172)”. In short, pride is a marvelous and horrible thing at the same time and can cause happiness or pain. To begin,The Scarlet Ibis is a story that revolves around oneself pride.

Any great accomplishment can make someone feel proud about their work. It makes one feel good; it raises a person's spirits. "No question, pride has its good points." (The Toronto Star, Nov 1999) Then again, there are also the bad points of pride one must consider, before being proud. Pride can deceive a person into being ambitious, and make them strive for something that is not rightfully theirs. Both Macbeth and Willy encountered this problem. Pride can also cause a bad relationship with the people one loves most. For Macbeth and Willy, their relationships with their families were burdened as a consequence of this pride. Pride can lead to much worse things; it can put a person in a

Pride can be considered a controversial emotion. Like any pleasing object, material, idea, or force, pride has proper doses. Too much pride and too little pride are both harmful. A healthy amount of pride inspires confidence, which is critical for success, but an excess of pride can create a egotistical mindset, which is utterly damaging to individuals. Therefore, pride’s relative effect on people depends on its potency and use.

Pride can pretty much run people’s lives. You can have a lot of pride in what you do or very little pride. This pride can play a very important role in your everyday life. Like what you do and how you act around other people. So, can pride be a destructive force? Brother taught Doodle to do things, he tried shaking him, and he cried when Doodle died. Even though he didnt treat Doodle very nice, Brother was only trying to help him become able and stronger. He could now stand up for himself and do things on his own.

To begin, a way that pride is a wonderful yet terrible trait to have is shown through foreshadowing. Brother was talking about the many rules that went along with Doodle and how much he dislikes dragging him along everywhere he goes. Brother says, “A long list of don’ts went with him, all of which I ignored once we got out of the house. To discourage him coming with me, I’d run with him across the ends of the cotton rows and careen him around corners on two wheels. Sometimes I accidentally turned him over, but he never told Mama.”(Hurst 2) Brother was careless when it came to taking care of Doodle and too proud to have an invalid brother. The way Brother acted around Doodle foreshadowed how he’d let his pride and also his carelessness get in the way of helping Doodle when it mattered most. The use of foreshadowing is used wonderfully throughout this quote. Doodle and Brother were playing in the yard near the barn and then Brother brought Doodle up to the barn and forced

Many studies have been done by psychologists to determine whether pride is a sin or just an adaptive social emotion. A study was done at Northeastern University by two people, David Desteno and Lisa Williams, who did a research report on their results. “The experiment examined the ability of pride to serve as an adaptive emotion within the context of social interaction” (Desteno and Williams 284). Pride is often viewed as a deadly sin and high moral behavior (Desteno and Williams). They believe the “function of pride is to motivate hedonically costly efforts aimed at acquiring skills that increase one 's status and value to one’s status and value to one’s social group” (Desteno and Williams). In their study, they took sixty-two individuals and separated them into same-sex groups

To begin the first way pride can be dangerous when control is lost is shown through flashback. Doodle had grown a bit, he was about 5 years old, but there was a problem, he couldn’t walk. His brother became embarrassed of his inability to walk so he decided to teach him to walk. He tries to get Doodle to stand alone but Doodle falls, Doodle warns his brother not to hurt him. But he responds with “Shut up, I’m not going to hurt you, I’m going to teach you to walk” (Hurst 2). This quote shows Doodles Brother letting his pride take over. Despite Doodles failed attempt he makes him go again, immediately. This is

Taking care of a sibling who is disabled can be embarrassing to you. So you decided to make them become normal. But you did it for your own selfish reason and because of your pride. In the story, “The Scarlet Ibis” the narrator felt embarrassed because he had a disabled brother. He planned to smother Doodle, but stop once he realized Doodle was all there. The narrator kept taking care of Doodle and the narrator was irritated. The narrator was more harsh to Doodle so he doesn’t have to take care of Doodle, consequently Doodle still wanted to be with his brother. The narrator decided to teach Doodle to walk so he doesn’t have to carry him everywhere. Hurst's characterization of the narrator shows that pride is linked to shame and embarrassment. This characterization is reveal when the narrator tries to kill Doodle , when he leaves Doodle out in the storm.

One way that pride can be mixed with love and be harmful is through climax. The brother took doodle to the swamp and then rain started to come when they were on the lake. So they had to rush back home. The boys did this by running which sets a lot of pressure on Doodle. because of that Doodle fell once, but got back up and started running again. But after that Brother said “ I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind, cry out”, “Brother, Brother, don't leave me!”(Hurst,6). Relative to the beginning where Doodle was left on the ladder he cried to his brother not to leave him. Because Brother took Doodle to the shed where he made Doodle touch the coffin which he was supposed to be in. But

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 him. Rather than celebrating the glory of his brother’s achievements; he lets the pride get to him and makes him act narcissistic.