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Destruction In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

443 Words2 Pages

“The Scarlet Ibis” isn't a fairy tale, neither dedicated to entertaining the reader, but nevertheless, to avow deeply into the reality of how cruel and prideful people can be, disregarding the limitations of others. The author, James Hurst wanted to portray his larger message, that pride can ultimately lead to major destruction, by conveying two siblings. Doodle, the helpless, dependent, younger brother and his antagonist older brother whose name isn't revealed to us, he’s only referred to as “Brother”. Unfortunately, in the story, the antagonist’s pride and neglection caused major destruction to the protagonist, Doodle, which resulted in his tragic death. Throughout the story, there were many quotes and descriptive words hinting …show more content…

Due to Doodle’s complication during his birth, it resulted in him not being able to keep up with daily activities, like walking. Brother had a hard time coping with the state of his younger sibling so he wanted to end both of their sufferings by killing him, but later changed his mind. Instead of killing Doodle, he decided it would be better if he taught Doodle how to walk. When Doodle was five years old, Brother decided it was time that Doodle learned how to walk. During the process of teaching him how to walk, Brother’s pride was too large for him to care whether or not he was pushing Doodle too hard, he just worried about the end result, of Doodle, walking and impressing his family. Countless times Brother neglected Doodle’s limitations, challenging him physically despite his parents addressing the fact that Doodle has many needs. “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 though he kept up, his face turned red and

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Characterization Essay Sometimes in life people are not the luckiest at birth. The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst is a story about a boy who learns to walk. Doodle displayed determination and that he could work hard. Doodle is very determined to learn and be able to walk.

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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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At a young age Doodle wants to go with his brother everywhere: “To discourage him coming with me, I’d run with him across the ends of the cotton rows and carren him around corners on two wheels” ( Hurst 465). When Doodle was five, his older brother was embarrassed with having a brother you could not walk. So he helped his brother learn, after a few weeks of trying to stand up. On Doodle’s sixth birthday he walked: “That Doodle only walked because I was ashamed of having a crippied brother” (468). After that, he wants to teach Doodle to swim and climb but before they can do that a storm comes.

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(p.598) The older brother forces Doodle to learn how to walk and mercilessly demands he also run, climb trees, and swim,

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The brother was easily the guilty suspect in this case. The question here is whether or not Doodle’s cause of death was his brother’s own pride. Throughout the book, The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle’s brother gives us a plethora of quality examples as to why the death of his brother was surely his to bear. The brother was overly prideful.

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“The Scarlet Ibis” was written by James Hurst. The story was about a crippled boy and his unloving brother. The narrator was the crippled boy’s brother. The narrator did loving and thoughtful things, but for selfish reasons. Doodle was a shameless and needy character.

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Thesis Statement Despite the fact that pride is considered an incredible feeling of motivation and happiness, the author James Hurst through his characters, Doodle and the older brother, in his story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” proves ,it is in fact, a masked detrimental and beneficial feeling of selfishness and guilt. II. First Thesis Point- Topic

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Two brothers create a special bond but later learn it is not that way. “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a story that contains the main character, Brother, and his little brother, Doodle, who struggles physically. Throughout the story Doodle was put to the test by brother physically and sometimes emotionally. Brother did this in pride and learned that pride led to Doodle's Death. The author conveys the feeling of desolation and it is shown by point of view, character dialogue, character actions.

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Doodle’s determination to surpass people’s presumptions is once again displayed when he learns to walk and stops relying on his brother to tow him around in a go-kart. The narrator describes it as “[When] he started crying to be taken out in the yard[,] it ended up being me having to lug him wherever I went,” he was, “a burden in many ways” (85-91). Having to take care of his brother often, something he does not enjoy and wishes would end, begins to feel like a chore for the narrator. Although the go-kart was an important part of Doodle’s transportation and the brother’s

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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

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“The Scarlet Ibis” Literary Analysis Essay As the protagonist unfolds his tale, he paints a picture of himself initially as a malevolent force, planning the smothering death of his crippled brother, to a bully, force-teaching Doodle to walk to satisfy his own ends, and finally a neglectful older brother whose acts lead to Doodle’s demise. It is the central event of his brother’s death that gives full meaning to the title, “The Scarlet Ibis.” In this short story by James Hurst, the author conveys the Narrator’s guilt over Doodle’s life and, more importantly, his death.

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The Complex Relationship between Brother and Doodle Pride, will always be the longest distance between two people, the reason of betrayal, and even death. In the Scarlet Ibis, James Hurst describes Brother as a slave of pride unable to establish a real relationship with Doodle. The Scarlet Ibis, narrates the complex relationship between the narrator and his physically ill brother Doodle. Pride always invades the weak bond between the two brothers and leads them to a tragic end.

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