Scarlet Ibis Theme Essay

Have you ever felt so embarrassed of someone that you want to transform them to fit your image? In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the main character does just that. The story is about a young boy and his little brother trying to overcome obstacles. Doodle, the little brother, is not supposed to live long and his parents understand why, but his older brother cannot bear that. The brother’s selfishness throughout the beginning, middle and end of the story help prove the theme that one should not try to change someone to fit one’s own image. In the beginning of the story, the brother realizes he does not want to live life knowing he could of done something to save Doodle. The brother makes plans to kill Doodle and put Doodle out of his misery: “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who was possibly was not all there was unbearable, so I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow” (Hurst 464). While the main character goes in and attempts to kill Doodle, Doodle looks …show more content…
The narrator decides to show Doodle his casket to show him that he was supposed to die: “One day I took him up to the barn loft and showed him his casket, telling him how we all had believed he would die” (Hurst 466). With doing this the brother thought it would be good to scare Doodle and show him he needs to work to get better if he did not want to die. He had done this because he does not want a weak brother that could potentially die. The brother knew that if he got close to Doodle then he could get him to do whatever he wanted him to do. After Doodle touches the casket an owl screeched and flew onto the box which had scared Doodle. He repeatedly asked his brother not to leave him.. The brother thought he had finally gotten Doodle where he wanted him. He wanted Doodle to become a little independent and started to take streches to make sure Doodle could do