The Scarlet Ibis Pride Quotes

The graveyards flowers bloom as they take their last sights of summer, while the oriole sings a dying song up in the bleeding tree. A grindstone turns and crumbles away at the time that was spent between the protagonist, Brother, and his younger sibling, Doodle. It is then that Brother remembers all the time they spent working through his condition. Brother also recalls what happened to Doodle, and how much he is to be held accountable for. In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis,” Brother is to blame for the cruelties done to Doodle; however, he is not totally at fault because his actions are out of love. Primarily, Brother’s pride causes him to overwork his brother in order to preserve his ego. Comparably, Brother frightens Doodle …show more content…
Brother is mostly to blame for the brutalities towards Doodle, yet he pushes his brother out of compassion. Brother’s own pride results in overworking Doodle to maintain Brother’s own ego. Brother’s self-importance contributes to driving Doodle too far, because he believes Doodle is a bad self-reflection of his own character. His huge self-image is inescapable and controls him for many of his early years. From the beginning of the story, Brother sees Doodle as a weak resemblance of his own character. In Brother’s eyes, Doodle needs “fixing.” Brother states that, “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him” (Hurst, 489). Brother’s pride is the spark that starts the flame of Doodle’s downfall. Because his ego is embarrassed of having a disabled sibling, Brother starts teaching Doodle how to function outside of the go-cart. Furthermore, Doodle learns to walk as a result of Brother’s help. However, this plan is completed due to Brother’s own inner demon of pride. Brother admits that his family “did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me