How Is Pride Shown In The Scarlet Ibis

In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the narrator shows actions and evidence that proves he has negative pride throughout the story. The narrator has a brother named Doodle who was born with some deficiencies. For the first 5 years of his life, he was not able to walk. So, the narrator wanted to do something about that and teach his brother how to walk. When Doodle learned to walk, it was a huge accomplishment and nobody ever thought he was even capable of standing. After that, the narrator was starting to get a little cocky and his pride got ahead of himself. The narrator shows pride in a negative way because he does not think that he can fail Doodle, but only make him better. Instead the narrator believes he can make Doodle like everyone …show more content…
The narrator not only thinks that he can’t fail his brother, but he also is on a high with his accomplishments with Doodle, that he doesn’t want to just stop. The narrator acknowledges that he should stop, but he doesn’t want to. He believes that Doodle is capable of more and he wants him to keep up his hard work. The narrator says, “I should have already admitted defeat, but my pride wouldn't let me” (Hurst 561). This is showing that the narrator had faith in making sure Doodle got stronger. The narrator was so proud of himself teaching Doodle to walk, he didn’t want to stop there. He believed that his brother could do more and he was not going to give up on helping him be like everyone else. This was showing negative pride because if the narrator would have just stopped or taken it easy on his brother, Doodle would most likely still be alive. The narrator pushed his brother to his full potential just because his pride got in the way. All in all, the narrator shows negative pride throughout the story because he does not think he can fail Doodle and because he wants Doodle to keep getting stronger and be like other