'The Necklace And The Necklace' By James Hurst

A great story is a story that keeps the reader reading and wanting more of the story, it also should be relatable and have a great plot twist. The elements of literature that contributes to a story's greatness could be flashbacks and relatability. There are many similarities and differences between "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant and "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst; however, "The Scarlet Ibis" is the short story that deserves to be called "great."
Some similarities that "The Necklace" and "The Scarlet Ibis" have is that both stories are based on the main character being selfish. The author's approached the story with a strong sense of author's style, so the readers can understand the selfish characters that they portray. In "The Necklace" …show more content…
"The Scarlet Ibis" should be called great because it has an overall relatable theme, and a big lesson for someone to learn now or in the future. In the "The Scarlet Ibis" it states, "The doctor had said that he mustn't get too excited, too hot, too cold, or too tired and that he must always be treated gently." (Hurst). To clarify, the narrator is giving the reader a clue at how Doodle is supposed to be treated daily. This reveals that the narrator doesn't care much for his brothers' health if he still does the stuff he's not supposed to do to Doodle. Because the narrator worked his little brother too much, it resulted in Doodle having more health complications. The text also states, "I screamed above the pounding storm and threw my body to the earth above his. For a long long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of the rain" (Hurst). To put it differently, the narrator was pushing Doodle passed his limits, resulting in him dying. This reveals how now the narrator realizes that pushing Doodle to far was the wrong thing to do because the doctor told him not to do certain things with Doodle and he still did them. As a result, of Doodle's death because of his brother, the narrator, he now feels compassion for his little brother now that he's gone. "The Scarlet Ibis" was great overall, it had a real-world problem that most people face today, so the readers can connect more to it.
In the two short stories, "The Necklace" and "The Scarlet Ibis" there were many similarities and differences between both texts. As a final thought on what makes a story great, as a reader everyone is different, and everyone doesn't like the same thing, but a great story can consist of relatability, plot-twist, and keeping the reader wanting