Selfishness drives you to make unorthodox decisions. In the short story, The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, The author uses figurative expressions and images to make clear the relationship between a handicapable kid and his brother. Brother is extremely cruel to Doodle but he still seems to love Brother notwithstanding this. Brother cruelly pushes Doodle beyond his limits because he is embarrassed by having a disabled brother and is only concerned about his own feelings.The reason Doodle loves brother is because, despite Brother's anger, Doodle wants to impress his brother, Doodle Looks up to his brother, and Doodle doesn't understand the way he was being treated.
Before Doodle learned to walk their parents made brother take doodle anywhere
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Brother began teaching Doodle to walk. "I can't walk" Yes you can, Doodle... All you gotta do is try"(4).This reveals that Doodle was very doubtful and frankly, didn't care enough to ever try. The only reason he ever started to walk was because his brother was pushing him to be normal. Doodle wanted to just impress his brother but didn't really intend to walk. After Doodle was finally strong enough to walk, the Armstrong Brothers showed their parents. "Doodle only walked because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (5) This quote proves that Doodle wants to be accepted by his brother. Throughout the story, Brother is pushing doodle to be like him for his own conscience. Doodle is mesmerized by Brother so he wants to be just like him. While a Brother was giving doodle walking lessons. Doodle constantly questioned the importance of walking "Does it make any difference? It certainly only does"(6). Doodle didn't walk for himself in the beginning of the story he was content in being himself. With the constant push from brother to be normal, Doodle began to feel unhappy with his disability and developed a desire to be just like his brother. Without Brother recurring pressure to fit the social norm. Doodle would have been content being himself and didn't yearn to impress Doodle continues to adore his brother neglecting the emotional abuse because Doodle
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Show MoreDoodles 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. From doodles birth his brother never liked him or cared about him and wanted him gone. One example is “i began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow.”
doodle isn’t supposed to walk but brother wants to prove everybody wrong. “I can’t walk, brother’ he said. ‘Who says so?’ I demanded” (Hurst 3). When doodle was born they said it was really likely doodle wasn’t gonna make it because of weak bones and heart.
Brother is ashamed of Doodle’s disability because Doodle isn't like other boys. Brother is trying to make Doodle as normal as possible so that other kids don't bully them. So, Doodle is taught to walk by Brother. Brother says, “I was embarrassed of having a brother that age
Brother took a lot of his own time to help teach Doodle things like to walk. Everyone said that Doodle would never be able to stand up, but brother was tired of lugging doodle everywhere so he taught him how to walk. ”I'm going to teach you to walk doodle”(Hurst 2). With everything that brother did to help out Doodle to become a normal a normal person meant a lot to Doodle. Doodle was the only thing
“He was born when I was six, from the outset, a disappointment”. (Hurst, 350) from the moment Doodle was born he was viewed as not good enough for the narrator. The narrator had longings of what a brother would be like, when his new brother was physically incapable to live up to his desire he tried to change him out of pridefulness. Embarrassment and pride were the only reasons that Doodle was taught to walk, not because the narrator thought he was able. “Shut up, I’m not going to hurt you, I’m going to teach you to walk” (Hurst, 354) Doodle’s disability was not something he could ‘fix’, and on account of his brothers ego, Doodle was pushed too far, thus ultimately he could be pushed no
The expectations of Doodle's family and society that he should be normal and physically capable led to his brother's insistence on teaching him how to walk, even if it meant pushing Doodle beyond what he could handle. Doodle's inability to walk is not something he believes in himself; rather, it is a limitation imposed on him. In this case, the pressure set to meet societal
His brother was getting tired of Doodle because he couldn’t do anything with him. Doodle was different and his own body wouldn’t let him do the activities that normal kids his age were doing. The first time that anyone seeme interested in Doodle was when his brother taught him how to crawl. He wasn’t trying to help Doodle, he was trying to kee himself entertained (Hurst 110). He would lay Doodle on his chest which made it hard for Doodle to move himself, straining terribly.
It is true that Doodle learned how to walk because of the narrator’s constant attempts. James Hurst writes, “Finally one day, after many weeks of practicing, he stood alone for a few seconds, I grabbed him in my arms and hugged him . . .” (467) The narrator’s efforts in getting Doodle to walk were met with success and an outpouring of emotions from his Daddy, Mama and Aunt. However, the root of the narrator’s action came from the embarrassment of Doodle not being able to walk at the age of five.
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
Doodles brother was only helping him walk because he was ashamed of having a crippled brother but doodle's brother wanted doodle to walk so he can produce better everything so he wouldn’t be as badly crippled. “They did not know I did for myself, that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all of their
When Doodles brother cried when doodle walked in front of their parents but not for the fact that he taught Doodle to walk he knew he was being selfish. Although he wasn’t crying because doodle could walk but because he knew he was being selfish and wrong because he only helped him because he was ashamed to have a crippled brother and wanted to fix his pride. His pride was more important to him then doodle was. Which is the main reason he helped Doodle and he knew he was wrong for this
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.
At first the narrator sees Doodle as a crazy frail brother but as we move into the story, we can observe a lot of varying feelings brother has towards Doodle. Brother described Doodle as unbearable, an invalid brother, a brother who was not there at all, so he started
Ironically after Brother has realized that he had abandoned Doodle he goes back to find him face down. Hurst writes, “He had been bleeding from the mouth, and his neck and the front of his shirt were stained a brilliant red. ‘Doodle ! Doodle !’ I cried, shaking him, but there was no answer but ropy rain. ”After he realized what he had done Brother is suddenly filled with guilt that Doodle was now dead.
Eventually the narrator taught Doodle to walk, then decided to teach Doodle other abilities that would make Doodle be considered “Normal.” The narrator was so engrossed in this task that he did not notice that Doodle could not keep up. “I made him swim until he turned blue and row until he couldn't lift an oar. Wherever we went, I purposely walked fast, and although he kept up, his face turned red and his eyes became glazed. Once, he could go no further, so he collapsed on the ground and began to cry.”