“The Scarlet Ibis” In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, that narrator expresses a sense of guilt as he recalls his childhood that could not accept the humiliation of having a crippled brother. His true ambitions are conveyed through the dialogue, which gives insight to the real reasons for the narrator’s actions. The flashback reveals how the narrator is able to understand the terribleness and pridefulness of his actions toward Doodle when he reflects on his early years with Doodle. The dialogue provides the narrator’s reaction after understanding the ugliness of his actions to Doodle. After weeks of practice, the narrator and Doodle finally decide to show their family that Doodle can indeed walk. Everyone begins to jump and cry tears of joy, however, the narrator is the only one with tears of guilt rather than joy. When the father asks the narrator, “ ‘What are you crying for?’ ”, he cannot answer because of the true reason for Doodle’s ability to walk (559). The narrator’s mind is clouded by thoughts of pride …show more content…
Pride is what motivates the brother due to the humiliation of having a crippled brother to teach Doodle to walk. Dialogue conveys the narrator’s true thoughts at that exact moment and shows his response to the questions directed to him. The narrator expresses how the pride he felt during his earlier years results in the guilt of pushing Doodle to his death because of the hardships that Doodle went through because of the narrator. The narrator’s pride is at first due to egotism, but as time passes by, the narrator comes to the realization that his pride changed to guilt for being embarrassed by his one of a kind brother a looked up to him. Pride can affect anyone once they become overconfident in someone or something, but it will eventually lead to guilt as they look back at the outcome of their