Pride In The Scarlet Ibis

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.

“The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story written by James Hurst. It tells of Doodle and his weak heart and crippled body, and his brother who was filled with too much pride. Hurst creates this story by using many different types of figurative language. Hurst used similes, symbolism, and hyperboles to develop the mournful, yet humorous mood of “The Scarlet Ibis”.

In “The Scarlet Ibis,” love and pride war in Brother's motivations to help Doodle; his love encourages kindness, but his shame at Doodle's failings results in the cruelty that kills the younger boy. “It is,” I said. “And before I’ll help you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it.”

James Hurst is the author of the heart breaking short story entitled “The Scarlet Ibis”. “The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story about two brothers; one brother is healthy, while the other is physically handicapped. The short story is centered on the idea that the older, healthier brother’s selfishness and pride ultimately led to the death of his younger brother, Doodle. Numerous quotes throughout the story demonstrate Hurst’s use of symbolism and foreshadowing to portray and predict Doodle’s untimely and heartbreaking death.

Pride is a leading theme in most of the short stories in the unit. All show that your pride can endanger you or someone else.

“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a realistic fiction about these two brothers, Doodle, and Doodle’s brother who was the narrator of the story, many symbols are used. A symbol is a materialistic object being put in place for an abstract or complex emotion, or idea. For example the emojis you use when texting are symbols you use to express how you are feeling. In this story, Doodle is being symbolized by the Scarlet Ibis, the Scarlet Ibis is a bird and a symbol for Doodle because of their many similarities. An example of the Scarlet Ibis symbolizing Doodle is when Hurst describes the physical health of Doodle and the Ibis. He describes Doodle as being very sick and weak at the beginning of the story by saying “He seemed all head, with a tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man's. Everybody thought he was going to die-everybody except Aunt Nicey….” (Hurst page 1). Later on in the story when the Scarlet Ibis is introduced, Doodle’s father describes the bird as: “It looks tired, or maybe sick”(Hurst page 5). By giving Doodle and the Scarlet Ibis such similar physical features, it insinuates that whatever happens to the Scarlet Ibis will more than likely happen to Doodle. Another example of the Scarlet Ibis being a symbol for Doodle is when the Scarlet Ibis dies.” At that moment the bird began to flutter, but the wings were uncoordinated, and amid much flapping and a spray of flying feathers, it tumbled down, bumping through the limbs of the bleeding tree and

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.

The setting of “The Scarlet Ibis” helps prepare the readers’ state of mind from the very beginning. In the first place, the story takes place at the end of World War I and represents the internal conflict the narrator has as he struggles between guilt of his younger brother’s death and the acceptance of his brother’s disabilities. With this in mind, the narrator is abashed over Doodle’s inability to walk because he thinks disabilities are shameful, and he wanted a brother who was athletic, outgoing, and adventurous. For this reason,”When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn't walk, so I set out to teach him (Hurst 417).” The narrator admits to going out of his way to train Doodle to walk because he has so much pride that it is getting in the way of more important goals, meaning he would rather have a “normal” brother than a happy one. The poor treatment of his brother ultimately leads to Doodle’s death. Furthermore, he forces Doodle to do things unwillingly, such as touch his own coffin and train him to be “normal”. The narrator traumatizes his little brother to think a certain way in order to become accepted by society. Even

The allegorical message in the story “The Scarlet Ibis” has to deal with the struggle Doodle underwent, being paralyzed and learning to walk and run. The story, “The Scarlet Ibis” reminds me of the story about Helen Keller. Keller was deaf and blind. Keller went through so much to become the woman she became later in life. Keller had to have special teachings for her to be able to read and write. She had to also have a special teacher to teach her these traits when she was younger and that teacher invested every minute of her teachings into Keller; sort of like the narrator invested every minute of his teachings into helping Doodle beat paralysis. Sure the intentions of Keller’s teacher and Doodle’s brother may’ve been different but it took

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.

Can pride takeover and come in between love? This question is hinted by James Hurst in “The Scarlet Ibis” through the narrator. The story was during World War I. This was a time when crippled children didn’t have resources to help them, so in “The Scarlet Ibis” Doodle wasn’t expected to live. However, he did in fact live, and his brother taught him “how to live.”

In the ¨Scarlet Ibis¨ the narrator claimed to be helping Doodle but he was really just ashamed of him. In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst it says “Doodle told them it was I who had taught him to walk, so everyone wanted to hug me and I began to cry. “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

There are multiple themes throughout “ The Scarlet Ibis”.The strongest theme in the story is that you should not do things for the benefit of yourself all the time, you should do things for the benefit of others also.His selfishness is shown in this line of the story “ they did not know that I did it for myself; that pride,[...] and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (Hurst 468).Even though Doodle finally walked, his brother helped him for his own good, which shows his need to help himself before others.He taught Doodle how to walk for his own selfish reason that he was “ashamed” of him (Hurst 468). This shows the reader that doing things for your own benefit can have a negative effect on you.

(Hook) Motivation, when used to push a person to their highest potential, can cause both greatness and disappointment. (Bridge) In James Hurst’s story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” Brother pushes Doodle to the limit teaching Doodle activities that he would have never had the opportunity to do without the motivation and determination to reach greatness. (FS1) Throughout the journey of learning to walk, swim, and run, Brother motivates Doodle to keep pushing so that he could be like the other kids before he started school. (FS2) Doodle, born physically impaired, tries his best to follow his brother’s orders and make him happy, but this leads him to his death. (FS3) The motivation in this short story is represented by three symbols: the scarlet ibis, the wagon, and the coffin, which all demonstrate the motivation Doodle and Brother have to use to overcome the obstacles they face. (Thesis) Motivation can be used as a compelling force to strive for greatness, but can lead to upsetting results when it is used to the extent as it is in the “Scarlet Ibis,” by James Hurst, which is demonstrated by the symbols of (I) the scarlet ibis, (II) the wagon, (III) and the coffin.