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Comparing How I Live Now, And The Scarlet Ibis, By Richard Matheson

1161 Words5 Pages

Effects of Shared Humanity A human is a creature that goes through experiences such as emotions, choices , relationships, losses, survival, and moral dilemmas. These are apart of a concept known as Shared Humanity. The things everybody has in common affect how a person would see the world around them. This gives people different perspectives on what is going on based on the emotions they feel or what they believe is right or wrong. The six categories of shared humanity are found and explained in different works of litural, some being I Am Legend , How I Live Now, and “The Scarlet Ibis”. The novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson explains how a human can experience emotion in a tough time in their life. At the end of the book the emotion of …show more content…

In this story the narrator has a new baby brother, but he is very crippled and can't walk, so the narrator does not like him because he wanted a brother to play with. The narrator's dad built the baby brother, Doodle a wagon so the narrator can pull him around. One day the narrator decides to take Doodle to his secret place, the Old Women Swamp. When he takes Doodle he is immediately annoyed because Doodle was crying. He asked why he was crying and it was because Doodle thought the swamp was pretty. From that moment on they went to the swamp a lot together. “Doodle was my brother and he was going to cling to me forever, no matter what I did, so I dragged his across the cotton field to Old Women swamp. I lifted him out and set him down in the soft rubber grass beside a tall pine. His eyes were round with wonder as he gazed about him. Then he began to cry. ‘For heaven’s sake, what's the matter?’ I asked annoyed. ‘ It's so pretty,’ he said, ‘so pretty, pretty, pretty.’ After that day Doodle and I often went down into Old Women Swamp” (Hurst). The narrator and Doodle form a stronger relationship when they visit the swamp because the narrator loves this swamp, so when he saw Doodle crying because he loved it so much, he reliesed that they have something in common. Because of this he and Doodle went to the swamp a lot making them form a closer relationship with each other. Just like most people when two or more have stuff in common they are more likely to form a relationship with each other, then people who don't have anything in common. Shared humanity was shown in “The Scarlet Ibis” by relationship. Shared humanity is in many other novels, but this was just to name a

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Doodle’s brother was his designated best friend whether he liked it or not. Although at first he didn’t like the idea of having a sibling but he saw that Doodle was “all there.” Brother said, “I skipped through the rooms, down the echoing halls, shouting, ‘Mama, he smiled. He’s all there! He’s all there!’

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Their father builds Doodle a go-chart and forces brother to take him everywhere he goes. Brother takes him to the Old Woman Swamp, and Doodle begins to cry at its beauty. His Brother was mean to Doodle and took him to his coffin, threaten him to tough it or he’ll leave him there. When Doodle turns five, Brother was embarrassed because Doodle didn’t know how to walk. It took lots

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In the short stories “Celia Behind Me” by Isabel Huggan and “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, there is both a bully and a victim. In Celia Behind Me, the narrator Elizabeth is bullying a young girl named Celia to disassociate herself from her, advancing herself in the social hierarchy of her friend group. The narrator in “The Scarlet Ibis” trains Doodle, his disabled brother, to walk. Unfortunately we learn on Doodle’s sixth birthday that he does this not to only benefit Doodle but also himself for he fears being seen with a brother who was not normal. These two stories have many similarities but also some major key differences with their antagonists motivations, and decisions.

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Brother took Doodle under his wing so he could teach him thing to become more of a normal person. Doodle learned how to row a boat, swim, and many more things by having brother teach him how to do it all. With brother teaching Doodle how to do things they always liked to go to Old Woman Swamp to hang out and play. Doodle just meant so much to brother that brother just wanted to help out any way he can with Doodle. This is how much brother would do for Doodle to teach him to be more like a normal

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The story "the Scarlet Ibis" is written by James Hurst. Doodle is a boy who has a condition which makes him not able to walk. His older brother known as the "Narrator" teaches hi to walk. The Narrator pushed Doodle too hard... The character Doodle can best be described as sensitive and hopeless.

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Doodle was overwhelmed with compassion and decided the beautiful scarlet ibis needed a proper burial. Throughout the story Doodle and his brother share a close bond that grows with time. Brother eventually decides to show Doodle Old Woman Swamp. Doodle is touched by his brothers action: “His eyes were round with wonder as he gazed about him, and his little hands began to stroke the rubber grass… It's so pretty,” he said, “So pretty, pretty, pretty” (335).

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He finally understood that “Doodle only walked because [he] was ashamed” and figured that this was not what Doodle really even wanted. In the short story, the narrator was characterized as one who cared less about the people around him than he did about himself. He would try to accomplish things that would benefit him personally but wouldn’t care at all about how it may affect others. This example of the narrator hurting someone helps explain that there must be careful thought before any action is made because of the way it may negatively affect a person. Later, towards the end of the story, the narrator made a life-changing decision regarding Doodle which further explained the importance of thinking before acting.

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When Doodle was very young, he had to stay in bed all day. During these times Brother had planned to suffocate Doodle with a pillow until his mother shouted in the joy that Doodle was “all there.” As Doodle grew older and more comprehensive, Brother

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"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.

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Firstly, James Hurst uses characterization, in the beginning of the story the author alerts the readers to the narrator's original expectations for his little brother. The narrator wanted a brother who could run and play with him, so the reality of Doodle's condition hit him deeply. It is this disappointment for the narrator that lead him to push Doodle as hard as he possibly could. This shows the narrators character as mean, and selfish. The narrator taught him how to run and do other activities, since his pride cannot handle the disparity between the brother he wanted and the brother he got.

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Narrator then ran home. Narrator couldn't have done anything worse than running away from his disabled little brother. He left Doodle in the middle of a huge thunderstorm, where Doodle probably felt really scared, and completely alone. Doodle needed to be at home, where he could recover from the row boat trip. Instead, Doodle was underneath a bush, probably crying, alone, and dying.

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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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Due to his hurtful actions, inflicted upon Doodle throughout his life, the Narrator feels deep shame for what he has caused. Through the elements of foreshadowing and dialogue, Hurst’s narration reveals the protagonist’s guilt, emphasizing his deep regret over his actions regarding his crippled brother. The Narrator foreshadows the eventual climax of the story through his words regarding his views of pride. He states, “But all of us must have something to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine.

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So James said that if he didn’t touch it, then he would leave Doodle. His sensitive side came out. “Doodle was frightened of being left, “Don’t leave me Brother!” He said.” The sensitivity in his voice showed that he relied on his brother.

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When the storm hits, the two brothers run back to the house but Doodle can not keep up and brother taken over by pride leaves him there alone. That powerful pride that brother has, always breaks his bond with Doodle, after the failed lesson they just had, he gives up on his brother. The narrator, clearly has a lot of things going on inside his head, lost he just leaves him there because of his failure and an inside pride. “I began to weep and the tear-blurred vision in red before me looked very familiar. Doodle I screamed above the pounding storm and threw my body to the earth above his.

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