The Scarlet Ibis Theme Analysis

Pride is a problematic emotion that can lead to unpleasant conclusions if important things are left out of focus. The Scarlet Ibis explored a variety of facets of pride from the perspective of the Brother, whose pride evolves into a detrimental force. To go on, in this story, pride is often associated with the shame and embarrassment of Doodle’s restrained limitations. Pride is closely related to a pleasure derived from a skill, although, The Scarlet Ibis realizes that although it is nice to be please for the things we care about, there is limit that must be placed in their best interest.

Weakness and strength are only one thing in a person. This only tells us about their physical appearance or how much force you can apply with muscle. In the same kind of case for Doodle in The Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst, he was on the weaker side of things with a disability and a heart condition. Character traits for him would be weak, slow at learning, and very dependent on others.

The narrator teaches Doodle how to walk. Everyone is overjoyed when they find out- but no suspects that the narrator’s motives might have been less than pure. The narrator laments, “‘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 at having a crippled brother” (Hurst). In this passage Doodle’s brother tells us that Doodle only walked because he is ashamed of having a disabled brother. The narrator calls himself pride’s slave- suggesting that terrible things may come about because of it. He uses slavery as a metaphor for his pride. He’s a slave to it, it goes around with him, it controls him. He does awful things because of it, and it provides a less than honorable reason for the good he does. These are examples of metaphors used to show devastating pride in “The Scarlet

James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis” is about selfish pride and reveals that sometimes doing a good thing can be done for the wrong reasons as demonstrated by his use of symbolism. Specifically, Hurst’s use of Doodle suggests that the scarlet ibis is connected to him in many ways. James Hurst’s reference to the scarlet ibis is illustrated when the narrator sets out to teach Doodle to walk, “It seemed so hopeless from the beginning that it's a miracle I didn't give up. But all of us must have something or someone to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine. I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” After teaching Doodle to walk the narrator has pride for being able to teach Doodle even though it didn’t seem possible at the beginning, but he is also filled with guilt because he had done something good for a bad reason.

Pride is a feeling or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated. The older brother in James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis” tries to teach his younger brother Doodle, who has a weak heart and cannot do much of what other children his age can do, to be “normal” and later regrets it. Hurst uses flashback, symbolism and foreshadowing to establish the theme; Pride can cause us to do terrible things to the people we love.

“The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story about a physically disadvantaged boy and his big brother in early 1900s Eastern North Carolina. The framing device is the big brother telling a story about him and his physically disadvantaged brother. The big brother talks about, in the story, his brother’s birth, his brother’s years as a toddler, his brothers physical disabilities, his relationship with his little brother, the adventures of him and his little brother, and his little brother’s death. In the “Scarlet Ibis”, Brother, whose name is never told to the audience, is characterized as loving, ambitious, and cruel.

Can pride kill the people others love and cherish? In the story "' the scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst, the Brother knew that doodle should not go through strenuous work and he ignored the rule many times before Doodle died. Brother didn't teach Doodle all those things to help Doodle become more normal, he was doing them for himself. Brother didn't want to have a brother that was disabled from the things that he liked to do. After Doodle died Brother realized that he had been pushing Doodle too far for his own good.

In The story “The Scarlet Ibis” By: James Hurst, the narrator is a kid who is never named. The Armstrong’s lives in the country, near a swamp and the ocean, and that he’s six when his little brother, Doddle is born. Now, the younger brother, William Armstrong, is born with some disabilities and disadvantages. Fear that his mind is damaged as the body. The Family is so down on the little child that his father builds a coffin for him, just when his time is up. Doodle has an accident which leads to death, in which his older brother is to blame. He is blamed for his death because he pushed his brother too hard to do things that were too difficult and not listening to him when doodle didn’t want the help.

The narrator in The Scarlet Ibis says,”I did not know then that pride is... a seed that bears two vines,life and death” (#1). The narrator's actions towards his brother,Doodle, show that he is consumed by pride. In this story pride ruined the narrator's perspective of his brother.

“It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable,”(1). Says the narrator as he contrives to kill Doodle in “Scarlet Ibis,” by James Hurst. William Armstrong, known as Doodle, brother of the narrator. His family first thought he would pass away soon after birth. Later, Doodle surprised everyone by learning to walk. The narrator’s pride helps and hurts his brother.

Pride is a wonderful terrible thing; this theme is evident many times in the story. To begin, Big Brother’s pride motivated him to teach Doodle to walk, Big Brother also began teaching Doodle to run, climb, row, etc. Finally, Big Brother’s pride made him push Doodle harder than he should have, it also wouldn’t let Big Brother quit. His pride also made him bitter towards Doodle on some occasions. First of all, Big Brother was embarrassed of having an invalid brother. Secondly, he was so embarrassed of Doodle that he began planning to kill him with a pillow.

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.

The Scarlet Ibis is an intriguing story of a young boy with a medical illness and his truculent older brother. The story displays a diverse relationship between the two brothers, Doodle and Brother. As the older of the two, Brother treats Doodle as an insignificant being. Due to Brother’s embarrassment of Doodle, he sets out to make him normal. Doodle’s actions contradict the treatment given to him by Brother. Despite the ill-treatment he received, he still finds the positive aspects in Brother. Although Doodle was placed on one of the lowest levels of humanity by his own brother, he still portrays an attitude of unforgiving love.

There is danger of not accepting somebody for who they are and desiring to make them into what another person thinks they should be. In “The Scarlet Ibis,” Brother does not accept Doodle for who he is. Doodle has a disability and Brother was embarrassed to have him as a brother. We know this as a reader because in the text, he said, “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable, so I began to make plans to kill him.” This shows the reader that he does not want a brother with a disability, at all. The author hinted towards Doodle dying by having them build a coffin for Doodle. The short story says, “One day I took him up to the barn loft and showed him his casket, telling him

In The Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst, Doodle is the narrator’s little brother who was born with a heart problem, was expected to die as an infant, and then became paralyzed. When Doodle was born, the narrator was about six years old and did not really care much for Doodle. He thought Doodle was an annoying little brother. Doodle would always hang around his older brother and his brother knew that he had to be safe when it came to Doodle. Because of Doodle’s heart condition, he was not able to be flipped upside down, he could not get scared or get too excited.