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Brother In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

714 Words3 Pages

Did you know that the scarlet ibis species of bird can live up to 25 years? In “The Scarlet Ibis”, a short story by James Hurst, the main character and narrator, Brother, receives a younger invalid brother, Doodle. Doodle dies of an extreme tragedy at the end of the story, only living 6 years. This story teaches readers that it is important to have gratitude for what you have, and to not let pride take over your life. The author implements this theme strategically with the help of characterization, which is the way the author introduces a character (direct or indirect); irony, a phrase that is said to express something of the total opposite (3 types); and foreshadowing, the use of clues to indicate a major event to happen later in the story. …show more content…

He mentioned how it was “bad enough having an invalid brother” and how he formed ideas to kill Doodle (James Hurst, “The Scarlet Ibis”). Brother feels that he has been “cursed” because of the birth of Doodle. Doodle has physical imparities, making him incapable of doing “normal kid activities”. Therefore, Brother is upset that he didn’t get a brother who could play with him. This shows Brother’s personality because he wanted to kill his blood-born brother just because he wasn’t “normal”. Brother also comments that he “was embarrassed to have a brother... who couldn’t walk (James Hurst, “The Scarlet Ibis”). He is talking about …show more content…

The author writes, “Black clouds began to gather...lightning...thunder roared” (James Hurst, “The Scarlet Ibis”). Brother took Doodle to the landing to row a boat. The black clouds, thunder, and lightning all foreshadow an unfortunate event. Doodle starts to get scared, but Brother makes him keep rowing anyway, because Doodle being a “normal” kid is a priority to him. This is because he doesn’t like how Doodle’s imparities build an obstacle to his image. When the storm starts to get worse, they start to run, but Doodle falls behind. When Brother comes back for Doodle, all he sees is a lifeless corpse laying down by a tree. It was Doodle. He left Doodle behind and went ahead thinking he could escape the storm, then come back for Doodle, displaying selfishness. This is when Brother realizes that Doodle was the greatest gift of a brother, and that he would have appreciated Doodle more. Through foreshadowing,

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