Overwhelming Emotions In The Scarlet Ibis And All Summer In A Day

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“ Don’t let your emotions distract you from doing what needs to be done. Control your emotions or your emotions will control you.- unknown” These important words advise the universal themes present in two important short stories, The Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst and All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury. In Hurst’s short story, Younger brother Doodle was born with a handful of disabilities and disappointments. The narrator tried to teach his invalid brother to crawl, walk, and talk, due to his own embarrassment. When his emotions got the best of him it resulted in him pushing his brother to do more than his weakened body could handle. Likewise, Ray Bradbury’s All summer in a day is a short story about a classroom full of students that have never …show more content…
Towards the middle of, The Scarlet Ibis the reader starts to notice a change in the character when he starts reflecting back on memories. While some might argue that the Narrator loves his brother, and this is his motive to help him, I believe otherwise. “ There is within me (and with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to Doodle.” ( Hurst, 2) The narrator is conflicted because he doesn't love his brother in the way he thinks he should. He is at odds with himself, he is in an internal conflict because he just doesn't feel the way he is supposed too. He is embarrassed by Doodle, but if he fixes him he no longer has a reason to be. His only motive to help Doodle was to cover up his embarrassment. Similarly, in Bradbury's short story we

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