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Brother's Pained Lesson: The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

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Brother's Pained Lesson “The Scarlet Ibis”, by James Hurst is an amazing short story set on a cotton farm in 1918. In the story the narrator is called Brother and is the oldest son in a family, but a new addition to the family is added, a little boy named Doodle. Doodle wasn't expected to live long because of defects, but Brother doesn't want a disabled younger brother and pushes Doodle to his limit. He makes him walk and do activities even though he's not supposed to for his health. Eventually Doodle dies from too much of the narrator's pushing. Doodle taught Brother the lesson that people mistreat the ones they love most. Even though Brother loved Doodle, he would push his anger on him, without thinking about it. He made Doodle touch the coffin that was made for him as an infant, because no one thought he would live. Brother did this just because he was frustrated “One day I took him up to the barn loft and showed him his casket”(4). When Brother took Doodle to the loft he told Doodle to touch the casket, but Doodle said no and Brother threatened to leave him up there. “ I won't touch it, he said sullenly. Then I'll leave you here by yourself, I threatened”(4). Brother was too upset to think about what he was …show more content…

His parents made the narrator take Doodle outside with him all the time and he hated it. “Take Doodle with you. He was a burden in many ways”(3). Brother would pull the cart as fast as he could making Doodle bump around in the cart, sometimes he would purposely tip the cart over making Doodle fall out. Even though the narrator did that, Doodle never told their mother because he loved being outside with his brother. “Sometimes I accidentally turned him over, but he never told Mama….I could see I was licked. Doodle was my brother and he was going to cling to me forever”(3). Even though Brother thought Doodle was a nuisance he still loved him, even if he sometimes didn't show it

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541 Words | 3 Pages

Doodle is lost on society, consequently having Brother to guide him; with him following Brother, although sometimes unwillingly. Condemning Doodle into touching the mahogany coffin is to remind him of his mortality. “His hand trembling, reached out, and when he reached the casket, he screamed.” Consequently, by forcing Doodle into touching the casket, Brother is designating him incapable of normality. Alongside this, the coffin foreshadows the

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573 Words | 3 Pages

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

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470 Words | 2 Pages

When Doodle and his brother were playing one day his brother carried him up to the barn and made him touch his coffin that had been prepared for him. Doodle’s Brother was embarrassed by him because he was five years old and could not walk. Doodle’s brother did not want Doodle to go to school and not be able to

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164 Words | 1 Pages

Blood may be thicker than water, but pride can be thicker than both blood and water. Pride can be life or death. Pride can be good or bad. In the story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst the narrator’s pride ruled over his actions and decisions. The narrator’s pride lead to the death of his little brother, Doodle.

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248 Words | 1 Pages

“The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story by James Hurst about a physically disabled child and the guidance of his brother, the narrator. The narrator shows the “knot of cruelty” through the love of his brother. By forcing Doodle to touch his coffin, the narrator indicates to Doodle that he will always be on the brink of death and may never be able to lead a normal life. The narrator is aware that Doodle would be intimidated by this fact, but because of his cruelty, he continues to make him touch the coffin. As predicted, Doodle is indeed afraid and clings on to his brother, repeatedly crying, “Don’t leave me”.

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216 Words | 1 Pages

Brother treated Doodle like a toy. He made Doodle do things that he didn’t want to do .For example, Doodle didn’t want to start walking. He was just fine of being pushed around in his cart.

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439 Words | 2 Pages

The narrator did not accept Doodle as his younger brother since the day he was born. The narrator pushed Doodle past his mental and physical limit. The narrator was being selfish in his efforts to make Doodle more like a normal boy. Although the narrator did not actually commit murder, he is the only person that could be responsible for Doodle’s

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877 Words | 4 Pages

Ambition’s Folly in the “Scarlet Ibis” “It’s only hubris if I fail”-Julius Caesar. This attitude is mimicked by the nameless narrator in the “Scarlet Ibis”. He is the lense that Doodle’s death is seen through. He is a mere boy pushed to passive homicide through the folly of man and civilization's progress pushed on his adolescent shoulders.

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631 Words | 3 Pages

Though Doodle continued to practice and get back up, “Doodle told them it was I (Brother) who had taught him to walk” (468). Even if Doodle had done most of the work, he altruistically gave his brother the credit for his accomplishments. By doing so, this gave the trait of selflessness to Doodle. When summer began, Brother “made him swim until he turned blue and row until he couldn't lift an oar” (471). Though Doodle was in pain, he continued to do what he was told in order to please his brother.

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672 Words | 3 Pages

Good day, I’m here to prove Brother Armstrong is innocent in the case of Doodle Armstrong's death. Doodle Armstrong was found dead by Brother, he said that they were running home and Doodle was running but was far behind him. When Brother stop to wait for Doodle he never caught up to Brother. Brother went back for Doodle and that's when he found Doodle lying on the floor bleeding from his mouth and neck dead. There is no evidence to prove that Brother Armstrong is guilty we have to take things into consideration his age, what really happened that day, and what has Brother done for Doodle .

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446 Words | 2 Pages

In this story Brother has a cruel streak in his pride. He was not a very good brother and he pushes Doodle to extremes because of pure cruelty. “Doodle studied the mahogany box for a long time, then said, “It’s not mine.” “It is,” I said. “And before I’ll help you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it.”

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520 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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790 Words | 4 Pages

When Doodle was born, his brother was only 6 years old. “He was born when I was six, and was, from the outset, a disappointment .” With the narrator being so young at the time, he wasn’t necessarily the best role model for someone with conditions like Doodle. With being à kid, he wasn’t ready to take on certain responsibilities when it came to looking after

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275 Words | 2 Pages

The narrator has to take Doodle everywhere and he was mentally carp about about how he is a burden. He would teach his brother how to do things regular things that other boys would so but doodle would batch that up. At the end of the story The narrator was callous towards his little brother, eventually he breaches his promise.

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827 Words | 4 Pages

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

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