Literary Criticism: The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

Brother had to take Doodle everywhere he went. For example, Brother would take Doodle to places in a cart by pulling him along with him, which his father made since Doodle could not walk. On the other hand, Brother behaved heartless most times. He took Doodle

People with disabilities are no less than regular people and they deserve the same love and respect. Brother obviously does not understand this because he is constantly acting like he is bettering Doodle’s life when his intent is his own personal gain. Brother feels the guilt of teaching Doodle to walk for his own personal gain when he reflects, “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.” Brother finally learns what karma can do to a person when Doodle dies. The scene of Doodle’s death is depicted as “bleeding from the mouth, and his neck, and the front of his shirt were stained a brilliant red.”

James Hurst, the author of the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” uses the scarlet ibis to symbolize Doodle. Both the bird and Doodle both stand out in their own ways. Doodle was born with a bad heart, and his parents were told, when he was first born, that most likely he wouldn’t live and if he were to live, he would never be able to walk. Doodle’s brother is ashamed of having a crippled brother, that he can’t play with, and tries to help Doodle learn how to walk for his own pride and ego. After many months of constant success, Doodle’s brother tries to push Doodle a little more than Doodle can endure by leaving him, after he has fallen, on the way home during a strorm.

Brothers only motivation is to make Doodle like other kids to avoid himself from self embarrassment of having a brother who is disabled and going through a battle of his own ego. Meanwhile the story continues brother is selfish, careless and prideful throughout the story. One trait brother showed is being careless. He is careless because he is constantly reminding doodle how he is disabled. Doodle is unwilling to participate in brother’s cold-hearted attempts of pointing out his mortalities.

In the story, “The Scarlet Ibis” author James Hurst uses indirect characterization through the thoughts and feeling of the protagonist towards his little brother Doodle to establish a meaningful theme. The theme is that being ashamed of those close to you often makes you lose sight of what that person may be going through, leading to regret in the future. In the beginning of the story, the protagonist talks about how his baby brother’s crawling made him resemble a doodle bug. This is why he calls his brother Doodle. “Renaming my brother was perhaps the kindest thing I ever did for him, because nobody expects much from someone named Doodle,” (3) the protagonist proceeds to explain.

The narrator feels ashamed and embarrassed for having a brother that cannot walk. Therefore "Brother" has goals and expectations for Doodle such as swimming, running, rowing, climbing vines, but most importantly walking. The narrator "Brother" from "The Scarlet Ibis," causes Doodle's

He could not walk at all because of his birth defects, but his brother slowly but surely taught him how to first stand up, and then walk. Doodle accomplished an impossible feat. Even then he did not bask in the glory but “told [his family] that it was[ the narrator] who had taught him how to walk,”(206). Another instance of Doodle being selfless is when he is being trained by his brother. If someone made a person” swim until [he or she] turned blue and rowed until [he or she] couldn’t lift an oar”(209)

Because Amir doesn’t have a strong connection with his father, he decides to betray his childhood friend Hassan by preventing him when he got raped in a alleyway. Ever since he was young, Amir was detached with his father and his father always seem to treat Hassan, a Hazara or slave, with a higher importance than Amir. Thus, making Amir was very envious of Hassan, and is always competing with him to win his father's affections, and by having enough courage to become a man. Amir entered in a famous kite competition, and Hassan helped him win. When Amir knocked the last kite down, Hassan was running to grab Amir’s prize.

The dictionary defines Regret as “feel sad, disappointed over” but, the short stories The Scarlet Ibis and The Sound Of Thunder give it a new meaning. Regret accomplishes nothing, it only brings you down more than you have ever been. The Scarlet Ibis shows regret when Doodle’s brother teaches him to walk. Also, The Sound Of Thunder it shows regret when Eckles wants to hunt big game. Often times we regret things that we do But have an irreversible effect.

This disability prevented Doodle from walking or standing which meant that most of the time, Doodle's brother was required to carry Doodle anywhere he needed or wanted to go. Without a doubt, this aggravated Doodle's brother, greatly. In his mind, and with his gigantic ego, Doodle's brother was too good to carry his physically challenged brother anywhere, especially in public where they could be seen by others, so guess what Doodle's brother did to get out of helping Doodle? He actually forced Doodle to walk, which was detrimental to Doodle, both physically and mentally. Considering the overwhelming strain this action forced upon Doodle's frail, fragile heart, it easily could have been too much for it to take.

In the beginning of the story Brother wanted to smother Doodle because he wasn’t “all there”. Brother was forced to take Doodle wherever he went. This probably made him annoyed of Doodle’s presence. Brother wanted a brother that could do everything that he could.

The doctor states that even the strain put on doodles body from setting upward might kill him, due to his weak heart. Doodle 's brother consistently thinks about what it would be like to have a “normal” Brother. He wanted someone who could run, jump and play with him, instead having a weak and fragile brother known as doodle. Through the story the narrators brother doodle is pulled behind in a wagon, do the the fact that Doodle can 't walk. At this moment is when Brother decides to train Doodle to be what he portrays as a "normal human being" Eventually, at six years of age, Doodle learns to walk with help from Brother.

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

Mom, this is your son hector and I hope you one day read this so you can hear about my adventures of being kept in a horrible camp for bad boys. Here it isn 't even the work they force us to do that upsets me the most, it 's the emotion they put you through. The kids call me names like idiot, worm, mole, and other saddening things. There is one ince friend here and he tried teaching me how to read, but these people think digging is more important than Learning words that I used to make this!

The Narrator of “The Scarlet Ibis” has a disabled brother named Doodle. He had various disabilities and limitations. He could not walk and could barely sit up. Brother never really liked Doodle for many reasons. he was like a burden to him he always had to take him out and watch over him.