Hurst's The Scarlet Ibis Vs. Woman With Flower

"The Scarlet Ibis" vs. "Woman with Flower"
The decisions we make affect our loved ones in a way that no one can comprehend. Just a small detail that we may think is insignificant can affect us, but more importantly the ones we love. In the story "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst is about a boy and his younger brother with disabilities that eventually dies from surpassing his limits. The poem "Woman with Flower" by Naomi Long Madgett is a about a mother who won't let her child grow and develop by itself. These two literary examples show that too much anything could have negative affects and can be seen through the amount of expectations we have, the knowledge of our wrong actions and the type of intention we have to help our loved ones.

One idea that differentiates in story and in the poem is the level of expectations that is being put into the …show more content…
In the story The Narrator has taught Doodle how to walk and is showing the rest of their family the surprise, but begins to cry once they try to thank him. " "What are you crying for?" Asked Daddy, but I couldn't answer. They did not know I did it for myself..." " (Hurst 347). The Narrator admitted to only teaching Doodle how to walk just because he was embarrassed of him, but how we truly knew is that he started crying. Crying is what people do to show they are in pain and that is exactly what The Narrator did. As opposed to the story the woman in the poem does not know of her wrong actions. The Speaker in the poem is giving advice to an overprotective mother. "I wouldn't coax the plant if I were you"(Madgett). The speaker uses "you" so we can conclude they aren't the mother, but someone else. This shows that the mother doesn't that her kind of support that she is providing isn't helping but harming her child. Knowing and not knowing can't keep us from harming our loved