The Scarlet Ibis Rhetorical Analysis

Many people have siblings. There are many silly stories of misadventures through the garden between brothers to the horrid karaoke sessions of sisters. “The Scarlet Ibis” is one of these stories. It is a bittersweet tale spun about the relationship between two brothers, Doodle and Brother. The main reason for this is because of the change of a cherished relationship between brothers to a neglected one. Brother changes from a loving part of Doodle’s life to an angry part of his life because his desire for a “normal” brother overtakes him. The exhaustion of Doodle is a product of the holds of pride and love.

In “The Scarlet Ibis,” Hurst narrates how Brother’s pride and selfishness ultimately leads to the death of his disabled brother Doodle. As Doodle grows throughout the story, his brother teaches him how to be normal so he does not feel embarrassed about having a disabled brother. The selfish narrator pushes Doodle to the limits, blinded by his own pride, to have Doodle trained and ready for kindergarten. There are many pieces of text in the story which show the author’s use of foreshadowing and symbolism to portray Doodle’s terrible and despairing death. Primarily, Hurst hides clues in his text which establish that pride and love can end up being harmful.

Identity Hidden in Pride In “The Scarlet Ibis,” James Hurst uses internal conflicts between Brother’s pride and intentions to demonstrate that actions influenced by pride are an imperfect reflection of one’s identity. Early in the story, the protagonist, Brother, is embarrassed by Doodle, his little brother, who cannot walk at the age of five. Without letting his parents know, Brother successfully teaches Doodle to walk.

Pride Overcomes Judgement James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis” is about the battle between love and pride and reveals that pride alters people’s perception of loved ones capabilities demonstrated by symbolism. James Hurst’s use of symbolism suggests that the Scarlet Ibis is a symbol of Doodle’s life and his journey to be able to walk, even though his disabilities challenge that. The narrator teaches Doodle to walk out of this embarrassment towards him, all because he isn’t like a “normal” six year old kid. After he successfully teaches his brother, Doodle, to walk he lets his pride and embarrassment alter his perception and pushed Doodle to his maximum capability.

Is pride powerful enough to come between two brothers? "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst showes that the Narrator is thinking more about his own pride and less about his brother Doodle. He didn't like the facts that he would have a brother who wasn't all there or who is different from everyone else. Even when he showes Doodle how to walk he didn't do it to help Doodle but for his own pride. The Narrators pride taking over is what killed Doodle in the end and is why the Narrator is guilty of his brothers death.

The older brother was pushing through with teaching Doodle to walk since he wanted so much to become proud of him. “Pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” The older brother thinks. -Hurst 2. This metaphor compares pride to a seed that has two vines, one life and one death, meaning that sometimes good can come from pride, and sometimes bad can come from pride. In this story, the older brother has bad come from his pride, which he unfortunately lets cloud his judgment, and lets his pride make his decisions. He later realizes that pride does not always lead to the best path. They showed their family that Doodle could walk, and instead of feeling happy, the older brother felt guilty because he had not done it for Doodle, he had done it for himself, and his pride. “I did it for myself, that pride, whose salve I was.” Doodle’s older brother thought. -Hurst 3. He compares himself to a salve that belongs to pride, as if he was promoting pride. He was, because he had let it take over his actions,like when he taught Doodle to walk. In The Scarlet Ibis, the theme, it is not good to let pride influence decisions and actions, is shown another way through

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

“I did not realize then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” The narrator of the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis”, by James Hurst, showed very clearly that there are 2 different sides to pride.” The author s“There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. ‘Good pride’ represents our dignity and self-respect. ‘Bad pride’ is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance.” This is a quote from John C. Maxwell about good and bad pride. This topic of good and bad pride comes from the book “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. This book explains how having too much pride in one’s self can create a negative product, or a positive product, as shown by the character Doodle and his brother. This is a story that shows how two younger brothers both have a heap of pride in themselves and each other and eventually learn how it can affect a person. The author of “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, proclaims that “Pride is a wonderful, terrible thing” to own. He shows the reader this through the two main characters, Doodle and his

In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” the larger message Hurst was that pride can be a dangerous thing. Brother’s pride and shame prevented him from loving Doodle making which led to the death of Doodle. During his lifetime Brother had always wanted a brother he could laugh and play with, but when Doodle comes into his life he is an immediate disappointment to Brother. Doodle’s disability of being frail and weak halted brothers expectations for them in the near future,” But Mama, crying, told me that even if William Armstrong lived, he would never do these things with me.” Seeing his brother as unfit and invalid, he immediately set out to “improve” and shape Doodle in his image. Hurst uses this part of the story to foreshadow that Brother will

In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, characters Brother and Doodle have a complex relationship. Most of their problems come from the ableist Brothers pride, towards Doodles disability. Before Brothers influence Doodle was perfect content with himself and his life, until pride started to effect their relationship for better and for worse. Brothers pride was both damaging and reviving for Doodle and his relationship.

Brother reminds us throughout “The Scarlet Ibis” that pride can help us yet also hurt us. We often use our own pride to push not only ourselves as well as other’s over the limits. Brother demonstrates this particular task as his pride pushes Doodle past the limitations. The conflict exhibited in

In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst the theme of pride being a dangerous thing is developed through Doodle’s successes and ultimate failure with his brother. The narrator’s original lack of pride in Doodle is displayed in the line “He was a burden in many ways… A long list of don’ts went with him….” (page 596) From this point, the narrator tries to change Doodle into the brother he thinks he wants. The narrator begins to attempt to make Doodle “normal”, explained in the line “Once I had succeeded in teaching Doodle to walk, I began to believe in my own infallibility… I would teach him how to run, to swim, to climb trees….” (page 599) At this moment, the narrator’s pride comes into full force, as he tries to make Doodle subjectively normal

James Hurst, as a result, reveals Brothers admittance to his pride by showing while teaching Doodle to walk. Brother is willing to guilt Doodle into doing what he wants to comfort his pride. As a child with a physical disability, Doodle will likely feel insecure while growing up, as a result, Doodle should feel as secure at home as possible. We are able to concede that pride controls only Brothers actions

Motivations solely based on pride can affect others negatively is a dominant theme shown through the literary element of characterization in the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. Hurst uses the literary technique of characterization to not only aid the readers in inferring the older brother’s traits, but to support the dominating theme. The text follows the story of an older brother as he lives with his young brother, Doodle, who was born with a disability. The older brother pushes Doodle to surpassing the restrictions his disability has created, and passing what his parents figured to be impossible such as walking. The brother’s actions were mainly influenced by his pride throughout the text and later, it is that same pride that

“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” Saint Augustine was conveying that even the most selfless people can lose sight of what is important simply because of self-glorification. The narrator of James Hurst’s The Scarlet Ibis learns this first-hand as his life is changed forever when his younger brother is born weak and disabled. As years go by, the narrator works his brother to exhaustion and finally, fueled by pride, leaves him to die. This egotistical nature is prominent throughout the narrator’s life as he teaches his brother to do simple things such as walk, run, and swim, though it was done out of shame and repletion, not love or compassion.