Theme Of Pride In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

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.

The quote exposed the narrator’s true motives and intentions to his younger sibling only by his ambition to normalize Doodle, for his own sake. The narrator thought that “pride […] spoke to [him] louder than all their voices”, and that even though he mostly cared his younger brother, he only invested his time and effort to towards Doodle as well as improving his younger sibling's weaknesses to make his family seem more normal. Doodle was oblivious to this, and thought nothing but love towards Older Brother because he was helping Doodle become less different. Hurst also employs the phrase “that pride, whose slave I was” to imply that Older Brother is also having his struggles, and he was figuratively a “slave” to his thoughts, and he was experiencing a conflict with his own morality and dignity. Previous to the younger sibling walking, it seemed “so hopeless from the beginning that it’s a miracle [he] didn’t give up”. The narrator thought, “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” (Hurst

The narrator regrets how he pushed Doodle far beyond his limits. Now that the Brother is older, he knows how pride can affect him. “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.”(4) When the Brother got Doodle to stand, he was confident in Doodle to accomplish any physical movement. So he expected more and more out of Doodle. But he didn’t know the pain and the danger of trying to exceed the limit of one’s body. Now, after all the years have passed by, the narrator realize that his love for Doodle. “But sometimes (like right now), as I sit in the cool, green-draped parlor, the grindstone begins to turn, and time with all its changes is ground away--and I remember Doodle.”(1) The years have taken away the cruelty and selfishness in the Brother’s early year and he was sorry for how he forced and threatened Doodle. The narrator looks over the cruel moments he had with Doodle and blames Doodle’s death on himself. “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all the other voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.”(5) The voice here is very regretful of his sins, and wants to fix what he had already

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 his own. Rather than celebrating the glory of his brother’s achievements, he lets the pride get to him. This makes him act narcissistic. In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the narrator lets his pride and ambition ultimately destroy his brother.

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.

Doodle’s brother taught him these things because he was tired of having a brother who couldn’t do anything. So he taught him, and he pushed Doodle harder and harder so that he didn’t have to deal with him. Showing his family that Doodle could walk, and Doodle’s brother realized what he could accomplish. Doodle’s brother continued to push him until one day, he pushed too hard. He knew a storm was coming, but hesitated at returning home because of Doodle’s failed attempts of running and walking. The brother recognized that a, “streak of cruelty within me awakened. I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind” (Hurst 117). This revealed the side of pride that resulted in death. That too much pride will fill you up, and you will keep continuing it until it

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.

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.

Pride, can be either good or bad or maybe both in some situations. Their are many ways to use pride in many situations faced everyday. In the book “The Scarlet Ibis” the narrator uses pride in ways that can be confusing at times and some examples are self explanatory. The story begins with a narrator who has not been assigned a name but we know that he was age 6 when William Armstrong was born. He was born with disabilities and the family even constructed a coffin for him.

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

The story explains, “... Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” (347). This to me means that brother only taught Doodle how to walk and swim and other things only because he was embarrassed of having a brother with disabilities. Brother also says, “ It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who was not there at all was unbearable.” (345). This proves him guilty because he said having an invalid brother was unbearable. This is because of pride being a destructive

In “The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst shows the readers how pride can cause people to do cruel or fickle things, and it can blind them to what is actually happening. At one point in the story, Big Brother has just taught Doodle how to walk and is showing his family when he starts crying. He says remorsefully, “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 crippled brother.” (Hurst 559). This shows how guilty Brother feels because his family thinks that he is helping Doodle from the goodness of his heart, but Brother’s true motivation is his own pride. Pride caused Brother to teach Doodle to walk, which could have resulted in Doodle getting hurt, making his actions thoughtless and reckless. His pride is stemmed from his success in teaching Doodle such a skill, but it also stems from his desire to not be dragged down by the weight of having a useless brother. Later on, Brother starts to become prideful and confident in his actions, and decides that he will teach Doodle everything he knows. “Once I had succeeded in teaching Doodle to walk, I began to believe in my own infallibility, and I prepared a terrific development program for him, unknown to Mama and Daddy of course” (Hurst 559). At this point, Brother’s success and pride have started to blind him to any potentially harmful consequences. Brother even decides to keep Doodle’s training a secret from his parents, not as a surprise, but because he does not want anyone to steal the accomplishment from him, and he believes he can do it by himself. As the story progresses, Brother’s pride becomes a dangerous influence that leads Brother to push Doodle to far, and ends up killing him as a result. This is similar to the fatal cost of pride in “The

There is a very powerful conflict in the book about Brother’s treatment of Doodle. The quote earlier in the second example shows the root of this problem. He states; “Doodle only walked because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (559). His actions are further explained when he narrates; “There is within me ( and with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, as much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of destruction” (557). This internal struggle causes an emotional power struggle within Brother. On page 563, the boys have a falling out over how hard Brother is pushing Doodle in order to be ‘normal’ for school’, with the quote directly quoting pride “they don’t speak (what words can solder stolen pride?)” (563). The heinous action that triggered the falling out was Doodle falling over from physical exhaustion after being pushed to the limit of his body and shoved a little more. Brother acts as though Doodle’s physical failing directly affects him. Due to the behaviors seen in the former two examples, Brother and Doodle’s pride is seen through conflicts with each

I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death,”-Narrator, The Scarlet Ibis. Pride can be a very dangerous and wonderful thing, but in the story more destruction is occurring then happiness. The characters consist of Doodle and brother. Doodle was born with disabilities that brother wanted to change so he wouldn’t get made fun of by his peers. Wanting to have pride, brother pushed Doodle too much, took pride for a selfish reason, and eventually caused Doodles death at the end of the story.

The allegory” The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is about a brother that killed his younger brother because of his pride.First, you should know his brother should not have pushed Doodle too hard. In my opinion, Doodle’s older brother should have let Doodle get better at his own pace not what he felt was right. Furthermore, Doodle’s older brother should just be happy that his brother is alive for the time being and not push him too hard because he will start school soon and is already having struggles in school. Therefore, I believe it teaches the lesson that too much pride is bad because it can kill someone very close to you and push them too hard too fast. If you push someone too hard they will not be the same and