Memory In The Scarlet Ibis

Memory can be twisted based on grief and guilt. A good example of this is in “The Scarlet Ibis”, by James Hurst. The story is written as a memory of the protagonist’s brother Doodle. The events that play out make it really easy to blame Brother for Doodle’s death, and make it harder to analyze him because we only know him in relation to the memories and events he is recalling. He points out all he things he did wrong, this makes it where the readers will most likely leave the story with a negative impression of him, and forget that he was just a child when all this happened. We should be careful of judging him by the same standards we would an adult in the same situation. As we know, the big tragedy in the story, which is the death of seven-year-old Doodle, occurs when his Brother is around thirteen. Brother's memory of Doodle, from his birth to his death, is the focus of the "The Scarlet Ibis." Brother is one of the most controversial characters. He’s an …show more content…
Whether it be the instinctual love of family, or their shared love of nature and story-telling, it was there. Story telling is something else that they shared when it comes to interests. Something that Doodle taught brother, that obviously stuck, as he is the narrator of this story. It also gave Doodle something to contribute, as throughout the story he is made out to be kind of a nuisance. When it comes to the ending we can see that the death of the Scarlet Ibis is a kind of foreshadowing, one that, as the narrator, Brother seems to acknowledge, now that he is looking back on it. I believe this is a way of coping with Doodle’s death. He probably feels like he killed Doodle, which in most people’ opinions he did. Because of this, he probably takes comfort in watching the natural life and death cycle throughout nature. I think he likes to imagine Doodle as a part of that cycle so he doesn’t feel so