Comparing Fear In Scarlet Ibis And A Monster Calls

Around the world, the correlation between one’s actions and emotions are often prominent. The stories “Scarlet Ibis” and A Monster Calls contrast in the way distinct fears are portrayed through the main characters, yet similar in the way they both experience guilt as a cause of their behavior. The monsters inside both Conor and Brother, are infact life changing. In both stories, fear is a common theme. Although both characters experience this emotion, the cause of it differs. In the book, A Monster Calls, the main character Conor experiences a cogent fear of his mother dying from cancer, and having to go live with his grandmother. “He was yelling as he did it, so loud he couldn't hear himself think, disappearing into a frenzy of destruction, …show more content…
Although, these fears differ than the ones Conor experienced. When the narrator's brother was born, he was told that he would be incapable of doing many things. He became afraid that he would not fit in with the other boys in school. This fear urged the narrator into pressuring his brother. “When Doodle was five years old, I was so embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him.” (Hurst 4). Most children learn to take their first steps by the time they are almost a year old. Yet in Doodles case, he had only learned to crawl by his third winter. Brother urged Doodle to walk every day, pushing him to exhaustion. Once Doodle was capable of doing so, the narrator did not stop there. His fear made him continue to pressure Doodle in to doing things that the other kids did, such as swimming, running, and rowing. “You can do it. Do you want to be different from everybody else when you start school?” (Hurst 8). In spite of the fact that Doodle did not care very much about being different, the narrator urged him to try and be the same. The fear of Doodle being different was what kept pushing the narrator. Many people throughout the world succumb to pressure coming from their peers, in this case, a brother. Although Doodle did not care what others thought, Brothers’s fear of embarrassment made him exert more pressure than he should've used to make Doodle “normal”. The fears that overcome the main characters in both stories are different, yet people around the world can apply it to themselves. In high schools everywhere, the pressure to drink at parties is higher than ever. Many peers will tell one that if they drink, they will “fit in”. This pressure pushed on by friends and older students is enough to cause harmful accidents, such as alcohol poisoning, and even death. In both “Scarlet Ibis” and reality, fear of not fitting in is enough to kill