Summary Of The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

Pushing Beyond the Limits
Out of the large population, there are people born with disabilities. There are various types of disabilities which range in severity. Some of these people struggle less, but some struggle more. They are often discriminated by society. A perfect example of this is in the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. The narrator struggles to cope with his brother Doodle’s disability to do what a normal boy could do. As a result, Doodle’s brother pushes him beyond his limits to be like others, but it eventually kills him at the end. Readers can convey that the theme of the story is to never push someone beyond his or her limits. To show the theme, Hurst appeals to a man vs. man conflict, symbol, and climax. …show more content…
man conflict to show this theme. The conflict is Doodle’s brother physically forces Doodle to do things that he can’t do, like running and rowing a boat; “I made him swim until he turned blue and row until he couldn’t lift an oar. Wherever we went, I purposely walked fast, and although he kept up, his face turned red and his eyes became glazed. Once, he could go no further, so he collapsed on the ground and began to cry”(Hurst 422). The fact that Doodle’s brother let him “swim until he turned blue” shows how Doodle’s brother does not care about Doodles physical being; it is for Doodle’s brother’s own benefit to have a normal brother that he would not feel embarrassed about. Besides that, Doodle also “began to cry” when “he could go no further”. This shows that when Doodle is pushed beyond the limits, Doodle also has emotional