Doodle's Brother In The Scarlet Ibis

Scarlet Ibis “Selfish people tend to only be good to themselves… then are surprised when they are alone”,(unknown).This is how Brother found himself when he abandoned Doodle during a storm. In The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst a child named William Armstrong (Doodle) is born with a medical condition who revokes him the ability to walk. But the selfishness, his Brother has been blinded by makes him want to teach his Brother to walk out of embarrassment “of having a crippled brother.” Therefore Brother is two faced he can be selfish or he can be altruistic to Doodle, which demonstrates how complex brotherly love can be.

He felt no sympathy for Doodle until he died and even then he doesn’t even mention that he loves him. Poor Doodle, he put all his faith in his brother thinking that he was trying to help him get stronger because he loved him and wanted to see him get better, but in reality he was just pushing his limits so he didn’t have to roll him around school. “ They did not know that i did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” (Hurst 355) The narrator had no feelings of the brotherly love for Doodle.

The family realized that Doodle's disabilities undoubtedly make him different from other people, but this story questions whether these differences even matter. His brother insists and continues to push him right past his breaking point in the interest of conformity. He gives an example of the theme Do not let pride overrule love. A bird called the Scarlet Ibis appears, it forms a strong connection with Doodle. The ibis's death and Doodle's response to it, is the most impactful piece of foreshadowing in the story.

Doodles brother was embarrassed to have a not all there brother. It was very clear at the beginning of the book that the brother wanted doodle dead. His brother never wanted to be around him because he was scared to be made fun of. He wanted doodle to run and swim and play like all the other children

C.S. Lewis once quoted, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of, course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” This exemplifies the genuine idea of what pride can do to a soul. Many never fully acknowledge the sincere people who sit around them, and the beauties these individuals hold. Similarly, in Hurst’s, “The Scarlet Ibis,” Doodle’s older brother, the narrator, is driven to push Doodle to succeed in various activities, because he cannot seem to see Doodle’s “inner beauty.” As the thought of making Doodle the best he can be, and displaying his “inner beauty,” eventually leads to a horrific tragedy.

The narrator didn’t really love Doodle, was cruel to him, and thought him how to stuff out of his own selfishness, so thank to the gift of pride, the narrator is guilty for the murder of his brother Doodle. The narrator despised Doodle. When Doodle was born and alive- against what the doctor said- the narrator says, "I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow" (Hurst 345). The narrator wants to kill his brother because he realized he would not die and because of that, won't be able to do anything physically like brothers do together.

As well as discouragement like “ When Doodle was 5 years old , I was embarrassed of having Him as a brother” (paragraph 7, page 2) and “ man up it's just a dead bird” (paragraph 5, page 6) Brother was a witness in Doodles death, we don’t know if Doodle was struck by lightning But brother admitted leaving Doodle right before he died, “ he ran as fast as he could, leaving Doodle behind”(paragraph 4 page 6) and “ I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind , cry out , Brother!, brother! Don't leave me! Don't leave me!(paragraph 3, page 6).

Here is my evidence. First reason the narrator is guilty of Doodle’s death is because he was ashamed of him. This is clearly shown when brother makes the statement on page 347 “I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” This clearly shows the narrator's shame in Doodle. Another statement

In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, a boy is born crippled and no one thought he would live. The boy lived however, and they named him Doodle. Doodle and his brother were very close and Doodle loved his brother and never wanted his brother to leave him alone. Doodle’s brother was ashamed to have a crippled brother so he attempted to help doodle become normal throughout doodle’s life in the story. Doodle loved his brother, even though his brother was very selfish in his reasons to help Doodle to become normal, and his brother realized how selfish and guilty he was when it was to late for Doodle in the end.

It's the narrators fault for the following reasons: he was selfish, he was embarrassed of him, and he pressured him. The narrator was being selfish as he admitted that he did it for himself because he was ashamed of Doodle being crippled. Doodle looks up to his brother and would do anything for his approval. The narrator knows that his brother's heart is weak, forces Doodle

Doodle and the narrator are affected by self-esteem negatively. When Doodle is being helped by the narrator, he has troubles keeping up at the narrator's pace and ends up getting frustrated and deterred: “Once, he could go no further, so he collapsed on the ground and began to cry” (Hurst 164). Since the narrator continued to walk quicker than Doodle, it clearly shows that Doodle lacks enough self-esteem to tell his brother to advance slower or to stop. Not only does this clarify Doodles self-esteem deficiency, but it shows that he’s not even strong enough to stand up to his own brother. In the end, Doodles lack of self-esteem leads to his demise because he pushed his body too far without protesting.

Brother didn’t want Doodle as a brother because of his disabilities. “I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow.” (2) In other words, just when Doodle was a

Brother planned to spend his entire life with Doodle, They "decided that when [they] were grown [they'd] live in Old Woman Swamp and pick dog-tongue" (Hurst). He wanted Doodle to have pride in himself and be able to do everything Brother wanted to do with him. Brother had pride in Doodle since he was first able to stand on his own and walk. He taught Doodle out of his own selfishness, he was ashamed of having an "invalid" brother and wanted to have "someone to race to Horsehead Landing, someone to box with, and someone to perch within the top fork of the great pine behind the barn, where across the fields and swamps you could see the sea" (Hurst). Brother was ashamed of the way he felt and his self-indulgent efforts for Doodle.

The quote “He seemed all head with a tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man’s”, Gave the reader a view of how fragile Doodle’s body is. They thought at first, he was not going to make it, but he ended up surviving. When the mom explains to the older brother, Doodle is different and will not be able to do things that other kids do, he is then disappointed at having Doodle as his brother. He wants to be able to do things with Doodle, like he would be able to do with the other kids,

“The Scarlet Ibis,” written by James Hurst, is a bittersweet story. A weak autistic child is born into a family of cotton farmers. They name the child Doodle, which was given by his older brother. His brother was often cruel, but he pushed Doodle to work to fit in. They fail in their efforts at the end of summer.