James Hurst

Literary Analysis: Scarlet Ibis The story, “The Scarlet Ibis”, by James Hurst, asks a question that many ponder upon. Why do people hurt the ones they love? This story tells the tale of a young man who is trying to help his brother. Unfortunately, he is doing this for a selfish reason, only to preserve his self image. This is entirely due to the fact that Doodle, his brother, is a rather odd child. All of these elements play into the theme of the story, greed. A very clear reason that the…

The short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst portrays the theme that you shouldn’t let your pride and cruelty deprive you of your judgement. This short story begins by telling us about where the narrator lives, but as he continues he takes us through his memory and into a time when he had a brand new baby brother named William Armstrong. The narrator’s baby brother eventually learned how to crawl, but he crawled backwards, and as he got older he showed no signs of walking, until, when he…

In the story “The Scarlet Ibis”, the author James Hurst writes about a relationship between two brothers, who go by Doodle and Brother. The youngest of the two brothers, Doodle, was born with disabilities that cause much disadvantage to his life and Brother’s life. Although Brother can be cruel to Doodle, he thrives for accomplishment as Brother pushes him to his limits. Until one day Brother pushed him too far past his limit leading to the death of Doodle. Brother was really able to discover…

odysseus chooses the long and dangerous journey home to be back with his family. In The Scarlet Ibis by james hurst the older brother chooses to help the younger brother and sacrifice his time to help his sibling rise above his exceptionality and be more accepted by society. Doodle is born physically handicapped and cannot walk. But his brother has an idea. “I’m going to teach you how to walk, Doodle” (Hurst). Out of the kindest of his heart the brother helps his deformed, helpless brother,…

Pride is good in moderation, but in excessive amounts, it could lead to tragedy in the lives of those in its path. “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a short story about a boy and his unhealthy relationship with his brother Doodle. Throughout the course of the story, narrator treats Doodle harshly until one day, he was no longer there. One apparent theme in “The Scarlet Ibis” is too much pride can lead to regret, which is shown by the consequences of the narrator’s actions. In the story, the…

“Never let your pride keep something broken that your heart wants to fix.” The story was published in 1960, it is a tragic story of a child named Doodle, conceived with a restorative spinal condition, who defeats some of his difficulties just to be rushed to death by his good-natured yet self-consumed unnamed older brother, Brother. The story doesn't specifically say how Doodle dies, but clearly, he was sincerely powerless, making it impossible to live without his older sibling's acknowledgment…

In James Hurst’s, “The Scarlet Ibis”, the narrator uses the motif of red to describe the death of Doodle. Color red associates with blood which everyone would think of “Bleeding tree” is frequently appearing in this story, and this symbolizes Doodle’s death which is “A grind stone stands where the bleeding tree stood…”(89). The bleeding tree is just like the scene where Doodle dies, but the readers would not know that Doodle would die eventually and bleeding tree is illustrating Doodle but the…

"Woman with Flower" The decisions we make affect our loved ones in a way that no one can comprehend. Just a small detail that we may think is insignificant can affect us, but more importantly the ones we love. In the story "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst is about a boy and his younger brother with disabilities that eventually dies from surpassing his limits. The poem "Woman with Flower" by Naomi Long Madgett is a about a mother who won't let her child grow and develop by itself. These two…

appear as a small, fragile boy, but on the inside he is great and strong. The Scarlet Ibis is incredibly majestic and sadly beautiful, but yet it fell so quickly. In that way, the bird seems to represent Doodle. The book, “The Scarlet Ibis”, by James Hurst, tells the story of a fragile and seemingly weak young boy that wasn’t meant to live past birth. Although he is incredibly doubted by his family and all others, he fights for his life, and is able to do things no one would have thought he…

In “The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst utilizes indirect characterization primarily shown through the protagonist’s dialogue, thoughts, and actions to his brother to communicate the idea that a fear of embarrassment, which leads to an over-reliance upon one’s self-pride and confidence, can lead to undesirable and even deadly consequences if not corrected soon enough. When the story begins, the protagonist, Brother, is dissatisfied by the fact that his brother, Doodle, is born with severe…