Selfishness In The Scarlet Ibis, By James Hurst

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

Pride brings fulfilment to people's lives on the surface, but below the surface it only brings destruction. In the short story, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, the author present this idea through his excessively prideful character, Mathilde Loisel. Mathilde Loisel, an unsatisfied woman, takes all of her perfectly valid possessions to be proud of and throws them away resulting in years of hardship for her and her husband. Mathilde Loisel’s pride is disguised by lovely experiences and luxurious belongings only to be revealed as something of pure destruction. Pride will bring bliss only to later bring destruction.

Doodle was not the most ideal brother, leading to turmoil inside the boy. To him, Doodle was an embarrassment, leading to a powerful urge to make him walk (Hurst 112). Sometimes family isn’t perfect, but it is what it is; there is no choice. The boy needed to not let him get ahead of himself. In the story, Doodle was considered a hassle (Hurst 110). Things can get rough, but that is the reason family is there, for support. This was something the boy was not doing. No one is perfect. Not Doodle, not the boy. Through the journey with Doodle, there were constant threats spewed, hoping to have Doodle achieve a certain standard (Hurst 112). This is a scenario of tough love pushed too far. Threats and harsh statements do more harm than

A brother making his younger sibling touch his casket is very cruel Then threatening if it is not touched you would be left alone, which is Doodle's biggest fear. The brother manipulates Doodle on purpose. This shows cruelty from an older sibling making their own blood suffer for matter enjoyment. This point could be considered "tough love" to some and make him mentally stronger as a person.

"Doodle!" I screamed above the pounding storm and threw my body to the earth above his. For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain”(Hurst 6).This section shows from the end of Doodle’s life onward Brother has felt guilty. The whole story is Brothers story of the dangers of pride and his personal experience.

The brother showed more pride for helping Doodle then concern for Doodles health. “Pride is a wonderful,terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” (p.419) The quote shows that he did not know the effect of pride till it was to late. “Renaming my brother was perhaps the kindest thing I ever did for him, because his first name only sounds good on a tombstone.” (p.417) The Brother tells you that the pride he had in renaming his brother because no one expected anything from him. This is another reason why his brother caused his death by having little concern for what he done and he left Doodle in the rain.

Doodle and Brother were out practicing to make Doodle more normal. The storm started to come down, so they took off for home. I heard Doodle who had fallen behind, cry out, “Brother, Brother, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!” (Hurst 6). Good brothers would come back and get their brother if he was screaming. Brother leaving Doodle behind when he was screaming just shows that he wasn’t being nice enough to his brother. Leaving your brother behind is really mean. If he wouldn’t have left Doodle behind maybe the outcome would’ve been different. Brother wouldn’t have gone back and seen Doodle all bloody. Brother caused Doodle

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. He wished to be selfless and loving and always aimed to be the best brother he could. Brother never struggled while helping Doodle, it was his first nature. Though he struggled to help Doodle out of compassion and more for his personal prosperity and

He practically left him to die. On page three hundred fifty-three he says “I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us.” First of all from the story we knew that Doodle hated being left alone. Second we also knew that is was difficult for him to stand, walk, or run on his own much less in a huge storm in a heavy downpour by himself in the mud. Brother knew this the most because he said himself. “A long list of don'ts went with him, all of which I ignored once we got out of the house.” (Hurst 345)

The character of Doodle’s brother behaves with cruel notions toward Doodle. For example, when Doodle’s brother faces the prospect of possibly having an invalid brother forever, he “…began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow,” (Hurst 555). This demonstrates that the narrator would rather murder his brother than have one that is mentally challenged, which is not at all a humane thought, to say the least. Anyone who chooses to murder their blood relative instead of support them through tough times most definitely has wickedness within them, which supports the statement that Doodle’s brother behaves cruelly towards Doodle. In addition, when Doodle refuses to touch the mahogany coffin that was built for him, Doodle’s brother says, “‘Then I’ll leave you by yourself’

Doodle loved his brother. Doodle always wanted to be with his brother brother and tried to do whatever his brother asked

“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. The older brother gets mad, and Doodle dies. Doodle is overall a favorite character for people because he’s just an incredible character everyone could love.

Have you ever killed someone because your pride was hurt? The narrator in the short story "The Scarlet Ibis," by James Hurst, has always wanted a brother so bad. He finally gets a brother that everyone expects to die before being born. By some miracle the little brother didn’t die, so they decided to name him Doodle. At the end Doodle does die and this essay is to say if the narrator is guilty or not. 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.

But brother admitted leaving Doodle right before he died, “ he ran as fast as he could, leaving

Doodles brother is responsible for the death of his own brother. Three big reasons that led me to believe this is that he always wanted doodle gone from the beginning, he was ashamed and very embarrassed of having a disabled brother, and that he only helped doodle for his own personal benefit. All of those show why he left his brother in that storm to die.