The Scarlet Ibis Analysis

Improved Essays
Despite the fact that James Hurst’s Brother in “The Scarlet Ibis” loves his sibling Doodle, his love is tainted his pride and cruelty that results from such feelings. Brother is humiliated by his brother's disability, and jeopardizes his hubris. This is shown blatantly in the passage, “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk.” Thus, he tries to do something that at first glance appears born of love and tenderness towards his crippled brother Doodle: teach him to walk. His family’s congratulations and thanks only upset him, for he says, “I did it for myself, that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    In Scarlet Ibis, it wasn’t the narrator’s fault Doodle died. The narrator, James Hust talks about he wanted to kill his brothers sometimes and how hes actually glad he had a brother in the end of the story. Doodle had health problems and was probably born premature. Doodle health problems in later life could have affected his death.…

    • 110 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Scarlet Ibis Symbolism

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “The Scarlet Ibis” is a book published in 1960 by James Hurst. It talks about a young boy, who’s aunt was pregnant, and delivered a boy who had problems from birth. They said that mentally, he might not be “all there”, but he was. The doctor said that he could not get too cold, too hot, cannot exert himself, or his heart would give up. This didn’t stop the narrator from having one of the best brothers ever, Doodle.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Scarlet Ibis Argument

    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Scarlet Ibis Argumentative Essay In The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst the story suggests that the brother is guilty of Doodles death because he thought Doodle should die, he taught Doodle for his own selfish reasons, and he ignored the doctor’s warnings. For my first reason why I said the brother is guilty is because he thought that Doodle should die. The reason for why I said that is because on page 345 the brother said “I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow.”…

    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Scarlet Ibis In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the colors are brilliantly displayed throughout the text to immerse the reader into this story. One of the biggest connections between in the book is the color red ,it is used often throughout the entire book and even connects to Doodle one of the characters in the book. For example ”Its a great big red bird” is a echo to Doodle as he was born being a very odd red. Another example of a connection is ”It tumbled down, bumping through the limbs of the bleeding tree and landing at our feet with a thud”.…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” James Hurst portrays his theme about loving people for who they are, and not having too much pride that can happen be harmful when actions are taken too far this is shown through the indirect characterization of the narrator. At the beginning of the story the narrator recalls memories of his disabled younger brother remembering times with his brother. Later in the story, the protagonist uses indirect characterization in the story to convey his feelings about his little brother and how times were between them.…

    • 92 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Scarlet Ibis is the story of two brothers and focuses on the conflict in their stormy Relationship. The younger brother, “Doodle” is physically disabled, and the narrator and older sibling “Brother” is embarrassed by Doodle’s disabilities. Brother’s emotions towards Doodle are conflicted; he loves Doodle, but he is also ashamed of him and pushes him past his breaking point teaching him to talk and walk. Brother’s pride is the real reason that he wants to teach Doodle and this pride is both wonderful and terrible at the same time. He treats him unfairly and without compassion at times, pulling him recklessly in the wagon (335), and walking too fast so that Doodle can not keep pace with him (340).…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the short story The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst it shows Doodle and the narrator (his big brother) having a good relationship. For instance they do a lot of things together. “Doodle and i often went down into Old Woman Swamp. I would gather wildflowers, wild violets, honeysuckle, yellow jasmine, snake flowers, and water lilies, and with wire grass we’d weave them into necklaces and crowns.” This shows they like to spend a lot of time together and like being with each other.…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Scarlet Ibis is a brief story written by James Hurst, which describes the brutal story of Doodle, a disabled child and his brother narrator. Doodlei's life is already a series of close calls; the only reason he lives is his brother's love and perseverance - the occasional cruelty. The only motive for a brother is to be Doodle like any other child to avoid the embarrassment of a six-year-old brother who can not walk, in essence, with his own self. As the story continues, the brothers try to solve his shame and selfishness on the Doodle caused by irreparable holes.…

    • 543 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” James Hurst indirectly characterizes the narrator as prideful and sadistic through his thoughts and actions, to convey the idea that an excessive amount of pride causes someone to be deceitful, and act for their own personal gain at someone else’s cost. “The Scarlet Ibis” revolves around the narrator, recalling on his past memory of Doodle, his “invalid” younger sibling. The narrator longs for someone to run with, play with, and fight with; a brother to be proud of. However, the birth of a frail and severely disabled younger brother is a disappointment. When the narrator insists upon teaching Doodle how to walk, he slowly begins to feel proud of Doodle and his accomplishments.…

    • 1332 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst is a short story about a child born with a serious medical condition and he is not able to do the same things as other children. This boy tries to overcome his challenges. In the end, however, his older brother abandons him in a storm and he ends up dying. There are two main characters in this story: the narrator (the older brother) and the little brother (Doodle). These two siblings are quite fascinating as they are very different from each other but at the same time share some similarities.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Scarlet Ibis In The Scarlet Ibis, James Hurst uses the scarlet ibis, the coffin, and the color red, as symbols to to help understand different ideas that are a little harder to comprehend on your own. In The Scarlet Ibis, the narrator tells a flashback story of him and his brother at young age. In the story the narrator talks about how he tried to make his physically handicapped brother be normal like him. A symbol is anything that stands for or represents something else. The scarlet ibis is a big symbol in the story from his color to his physical form.…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Scarlet Ibis” Characterization Essay Jane Austen once said, “The younger brother must help to pay for the pleasures of the elder.” The desires in life can change and shape who you are as a person. ‘Scarlet Ibis,’ a short story written by novelist James Hurst, taking part in Eastern North Carolina, during the early 1900s. Brother, the narrator, is a driven person. He’s driven by his family, love, friendship, intelligence, and physical strength.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Scarlet Ibis Argument Essay Some people are selfish in such a way that they only affect themselves, but others’ selfishness can hurt those they care about. In the story, The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, brother was one whose selfishness not only affected him, but everyone surrounding him, especially his brother, Doodle. Doodle was not like most kids, he had physical disabilities that were not hard to miss if one was looking at him. Brother didn’t want Doodle to be different, he wanted him to be a normal boy who ran, played sports and everything that he was not.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This proves that he never wanted to teach his brother to walk because of love, he just didn’t want to be made fun of. This piece of evidence clearly shows that he was ashamed of having a crippled brother so he was going to teach his brother to be a normal kid. In conclusion, the narrator of the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” should be proven guilty because of the evidence . He didn’t care for his brother and he was meant to be gentle to his young crippled brother. Pride can be indeed be a destructive force as the narrator shows as his pride, Doodle, becomes the the destructive force.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Doodle said he could not walk, Brother replied, “Shut up. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to teach you to walk” (Hurst 346-347). Brother teaches Doodle to walk simply because he is embarrassed by his disabled brother. In fact Brother admits, “All of us must have something to be proud of” (347).…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays