Literary Criticism: The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

One way survive pain but not disgrace. In other words, disgrace is what Brother felt towards doodle. 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.

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.” The traumatic experience of Brother seeing Doodle in such a state was when he learned the lesson of “What goes around comes around.” Questions and Answers: What do you think would have happened if Brother actually followed through with killing Doodle? I think Brother would live with the constant guilt of taking Doodle’s life.

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.

Doodle doesn't give up because he is shown desirement although he goes through occasional cruelty by his brother. 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.

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) the person would naturally complain about it.

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. The Scarlet Ibis shows many ways of regret. First, when Doodle’s older brother taught him to walk. He taught him to walk because he was embarrassed about having a crippled brother. This relates to regret because he realized that he wasn't teaching him to walk for Doodle he was doing it for

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.