In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the older brother is responsible for Doodle’s death because he let his cruelty get the best of him. To start, the older brother admits that he has a hatred towards Doodle. The older brother was disappointed with Doodle because Doodle was so different from everyone due to his health. Which created a love-hate relationship with Doodle. He says, “There is inside me a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love.”
Throughout the story readers get to see how when a loved one has a disability it’s hard to accept it. In this story it shows the different ways that Brother acts dealing with Doodle including; Brother becomes egotistic, a little antagonistic, but also can be very considerate.
The Scarlet Ibis is a short story by James Hurst. This book shows a difficult relationships between two brothers. Doodle, the youngest brother, could not do any of the normal things in life which included walking. His older brother wanted to change that, but not for Doodle’s satisfaction. I blame the narrator for everything that happened to Doodle, including his death.
The story "The Scarlet ibis" was written by James Hurst. This story is about a boy who's younger brother was born with weak bones. He teaches him how to walk out of shame and embarrassment, then his brother dies in a storm. The character doodle can best be described as sensitive and imaginative. He is sensitive because he feels empathy for living things.
“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”.
The Narrator tried to help his brother and make him normal. He was going to teach hi how to walk, run and do things normal children could do. But he did it for the wrong reason. In the story the “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst, Doodle’s brother only thinks of himself, trying to make Doodle “normal”; this embarrassment towards Doodle this leads to his death.
Doodle decided, whether out of loyalty or personal aspirations, to force himself to learn how to do what his brother could actively do. Furthermore, critics of the brother, will state that Doodle’s death was caused by the narrator abandoning Doodle in the storm. At first glance, one would agree with the above statement. Nevertheless, one must take into consideration the fact that the narrator is a young boy who is still coming to terms with his brother’s invalidity. He is still not able to decipher Doodle’s special needs.
Throughout the story, the narrator develops the central idea of how love and pride can be both helpful and harmful. Readers observe the theme of love and pride through Brother’s contradictory acts of kindness and cruelty towards Doodle. While Brother knows he loves Doodle, he is always pushing him to be better for his
“THE SCARLET IBIS” Page 1 In In James Hurst's short story “ The Scarlet Ibis,” two brothers one named Doodle and the other one unnamed. Doodle is born weak and can not even pick himself up till he is two years old then gets put in the living room. The two brother spend a lot of time together go to Old Womans Swamp.
“Two brothers, one mistake” Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. In "The Scarlet Ibis," a short story by James Hurst, the two main characters,"Brother" who is the narrator of this story, and Doodle who is the victim of Brother's cruel yet loving behavior. In the story the narrator has a brother with disabilities such as walking, and a heart problem. When the narrator's brother, Doodle turns five and he still cannot walk and he is starting school after summer.
The story showed from the beginning that Doodle was in his Brother’s mind a lot. Brother wanted the best for his sibling because he didn’t want to be known as “the boy with the crippled brother”, but also, he wants Doodle to be able to enjoy the may gifts of life.
In his story, the character Doodle was born with a sort of disability. These disabilities greatly inhibited and prevented his ability to lead a normal childhood. His brother always wanted a brother to bond and share the joys of childhood with. Doodle’s older brother traine” Doodle to overcome his disability by teaching him to walk and take part in typical childhood activities. Yet with all of this emphasis on Doodle’s physical self, Hurst emphasizes on Doodle’s inner character through Doodle’s lies and stories, and Doodle’s name.
The narrator longed for a brother to race, climb, and box with, but when he found out Doodle might not be able to do that, he planned his revenge: “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 him by smothering him with a pillow” (Hurst 464). Before the narrator could kill him, Doodle grins up at him, startling the narrator. Doodle was underdeveloped, any excess amount of strain on his heart could kill him. In the winter of his third year, he learned to crawl.
While the pride of Brother fills him with the undying effort or pressure as seen by Doodle, it compels Doodle to perform such action his brother deem is worthy of practicing and performing on the regular. The basis for my argument is the direct mentioning of how Doodle is obviously abnormal to every other child of his age. Falling behind in basic skills, and as well as social ones; Doodle continues to fall short of being regular and brother efforts seems to divulge into pride more than care. Of the many examples that was shown in the short story, I have decided to pull three of them for purpose of giving truth to his self evident pride of Doodle in relation to the struggle that Doodle faces. These examples are as followed; “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable” (Pg 595).
Sowmya Vithiyashankar Smith Lit/Writ (7) 11 September 2017 Pride Leads to a Destruction In the story “ The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Hurst uses the indirect characterization of the narrator shown through his actions to show how one’s pride can cause one to do wrong. The narrator has a brother named Doodle. He is a five year old boy that has difficulty in walking. The narrator teaches Doodle how to walk because he is ashamed of him.
