“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) In “The Scarlet Ibis” Brother is consumed by pride, and his actions towards Doodle show it. There are many examples throughout the story of his egotistical behaviors, and the few times in which he cares for Doodle are only for his own benefit. In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Brother is both cruel and kinds as he helps Doodle to succeed and thrive. Throughout Doodle’s life, Brother finds continuously unpitying ways to be merciless and inhumane towards Doodle. For example, When Doodle begins crawling, Brother renamed him, calling him Doodle because, “nobody expects much from someone called Doodle.” (p31) When Brother does this relentless act, he believes
When Doodle is first born, Brother states how it, “was bad enough having an invalid brother … so [Brother] began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow,” (Hurst 485). Brother’s cruelty once again alights as he plans to kill his invalid brother for his own reasons and issues. His sense of morality vanishes as his thoughts take a turn for the dark without an ounce of love for his brother. Another example is when Brother thinks at times about how “[he] was mean to Doodle. One day [he] took him up to the barn loft and showed him his casket, telling him how [they] all had believed he would die,” (486).
How could someone be responsible for their own brother’s death? In The Scarlet Ibis the element pride was a destructive force because the older brother had plans and dreams of how he wanted a brother to be. Unfortunately that isn’t how it turned out at all. His brother was born disabled and limited him of the brotherly things he could participate in such as running, fishing and all the fun things brothers do.
In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis' ' by James Hurst, there are many big ideas that play a crucial role in shaping the relationship between Doodle and the older brother. Many examples of these big idea roles are shown within the relationship, but Hubris creates the greatest impact in determining the relationship between Doodle and his older brother Within the relationship of the brother Hubris is shown in various ways including how the narrator isn’t content with the brother he has and is set out to teach him to the impossible. When Doodle was born no one had faith in him, except Aunt Nicey. Everyone in the family thought Doodle wasn’t gonna make it far in life so they built a mohangony coffin for him.
Doodle’s older brother only helps him for himself. He’s Embarrassed of having a brother like Doodle. “he was a outset and disappointment ever since he was born when I was six”(462). Doodle’s brother knew Doodle was going to be different from the very beginning but could never accept it. When Doodle got older
Without doubt, Brother has a strong desire to fit in and feels a lot of pressure not to be recognized as different. This triggers an important problem concerning the community. It is heavily implied that the environment Brother lives in does not support lack of diversity nor individuality. Although Brother often mistreated Doodle in his attempts to belong in society, Brother was only a juvenile at the time. Disappointed he didn’t have a sibling who could run, wrestle, and play with him as he had originally hoped, Brother states, “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable, so I began to make plans to kill [Doodle] by smothering him with a pillow” (lines 39-41).
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.
The readers learn to value relationships, to not allow pride to become an evil necessity, and to appreciate the little things. These all combine to contribute to the overall theme. With the narrator’s brother, becoming weaker and weaker, day by day, it creates an uneasy feeling arising from the reader, about the results of Doodle, and if he will survive. The narrator reflects back on the memories, and the love he surely had for Doodle, “There is within me (and with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to Doodle” (597). This quote justifies the guilt the narrator had, in effect of not every fully acknowledging the passion and devotion he actually had towards Doodle.
The narrator’s pride wants Doodle to be an ordinary brother, and kills him in the strive for perfection. “For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis,” the narrator reveals (426). For the first time, the narrator notices the connection between the scarlet ibis and Doodle. When Doodle dies, his neck is twisted identical to the scarlet ibis’ neck as it dies under the bleeding tree, along with the fact that they are both weak and fragile. The scarlet ibis and Doodle has come a long way, dodging many obstacles and achieving many goals, but in the end, both fall short of
What pulls families apart? Money, fighting, and/or work. In this story its pride, selfish pride showed why people hurt the ones they love. In the story, “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, The narrator demonstrates the theme that “spiteful cruelty towards a loved one often leads to wounded pride.”
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
In “Flowers for Algernon” and “The Scarlet Ibis” pride has a big impact on Doodle’s brother and Rose. Rose and brother manipulated and mistreated Charlie and Doodle There are many examples of Charlie and Doodle being mistreated by Rose and Doodle brother in both of the stories. In both stories, Charlie and and Doodle both felt unwanted and unloved by Rose and his brother. For example, In “The Scarlet Ibis” Doodle’s brother had a lot of pride and could not accept him as he was.
“Pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death” (Hurst 2). This is how James Hurst describes pride in his heart-wrenching short story, “The Scarlet Ibis.” What speaks to me most about this quote is its profound truth. For the majority of people, pride is either a positive or negative thing, but what Hurst and I seem to agree about is the fact that pride can be both. It is an undeniable symptom of the human condition, a tool that can either create or destroy, and is responsible for the best and worst parts of history.
Moreover, the narrator refers to Doodle as “my fallen scarlet ibis” which shows that the scarlet ibis symbolizes Doodle. After the death of his brother, the narrator realizes his error. His pride is what kills his brother, blinding him from Doodle’s struggles. He and the readers are taught a lesson as pride is a strong emotion that must be managed or the consequences of arrogant pride could be critical. Consequently, the use of flashback further assists in the development of the
"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.
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.