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Doodle's Brother In The Scarlet Ibis

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Do you ever feel like you are out of place? Do people behave differently towards you? In James Hurst’s short story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” a character by the name of Doodle is disabled at a young age. This results in his elder brother, also the narrator, to behave with conflicting personalities toward Doodle. In his short story “The Scarlet Ibis,” James Hurst uses Doodle’s brother in order to show how he is both cruel and kind towards his younger brother Doodle.

The character of Doodle’s brother behaves with cruel notions toward Doodle. For example, when Doodle’s brother faces the prospect of possibly having an invalid brother forever, he “…began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow,” (Hurst 555). This demonstrates that the narrator would rather murder his brother than have one that is mentally challenged, which is not at all a humane thought, to say the least. Anyone who chooses to murder their blood relative instead of support them through tough times most definitely has wickedness within them, which supports the statement that Doodle’s brother behaves cruelly towards Doodle. In addition, when Doodle refuses to touch the mahogany coffin that was built for him, Doodle’s brother says, “‘Then I’ll leave you by yourself’ …show more content…

His cruelty is shown through murderous and frightening actions, whereas his kindness is displayed through teaching and planning. This behavior that the narrator has towards Doodle is not uncommon in this world. People are quick to judge when they see someone mentally or physically disabled. Most of the time they react similar to Doodle’s brother’s negative actions, but the ones with a true heart act as the latter’s more sympathetic actions. It is up to you to decide whether you want to be the cruel one or the kind one in similar situations that arise around

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It's the narrators fault for the following reasons: he was selfish, he was embarrassed of him, and he pressured him. The narrator was being selfish as he admitted that he did it for himself because he was ashamed of Doodle being crippled. Doodle looks up to his brother and would do anything for his approval. The narrator knows that his brother's heart is weak, forces Doodle

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Here is my evidence. First reason the narrator is guilty of Doodle’s death is because he was ashamed of him. This is clearly shown when brother makes the statement on page 347 “I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” This clearly shows the narrator's shame in Doodle. Another statement

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I do believe the brother did have to have some love for Doodle, he gave him his name after all. On page 345 it says, “It was I who renamed him… Crawling backward made him look like a doodlebug so I began to call him Doodle. Renaming my brother was perhaps the kindest thing I ever did for him, because nobody expects much from someone called Doodle.” But all in all if this brother truly had a sincere love for Doodle he would never have done the things he did to him or had any of the thoughts I’ve mentioned above.

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Brother, the main character of the short story, "The Scarlet Ibis," proves himself to have a double sided personality. On one hand, Brother can be characterized as mean and harsh. The author portrays this behavior when Brother neglectfully tries to shape Doodle into his image despite his clear inability. On the other hand, Brother can be characterized as nice and caring. This personality is shown through his motivation and pride in Doodle due to his accomplishments.

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Doodle ended up learning to walk and talk, which shows that he develops throughout the story. As you know, the name of the poem is "The Scarlet Ibis," which you can connect to the rage and redness of Doodle's brother wanting to kill him. Doodle is very weak he seemed all head with a tiny body that was red and shriveled like an old man. Everybody thought he was going to die—everybody except Aunt Nicey, who had delivered him.

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Brother often foreshadows that Doodle is a burden to bare with. Brother reckons, “The knowledge that Doodle’s and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awaked. I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us” (Hurst 6). Just the idea if Doodle in Brother's Plans and the obstacle he would become was too much for Brother to handle. Because if this act Brother is once again showing an act of selfishness.

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Doodle’s older brother only helps him for himself. He’s Embarrassed of having a brother like Doodle. “he was a outset and disappointment ever since he was born when I was six”(462). Doodle’s brother knew Doodle was going to be different from the very beginning but could never accept it. When Doodle got older

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The narrator didn’t really love Doodle, was cruel to him, and thought him how to stuff out of his own selfishness, so thank to the gift of pride, the narrator is guilty for the murder of his brother Doodle. The narrator despised Doodle. When Doodle was born and alive- against what the doctor said- the narrator says, "I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow" (Hurst 345). The narrator wants to kill his brother because he realized he would not die and because of that, won't be able to do anything physically like brothers do together.

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When pride comes upon you it hits you quicker than a bolt of lightning. “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). The older brother planned to murder Doodle right after he was informed that Doodle was impaired. He didn’t even care about his personality, just his physical condition.

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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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Given all the evidence in the story there’s no doubt about it that Doodle’s death was because of his brother’s dislike for him, self-pride, and decisions when Doodle needed his brother most. The Narrator is responsible for his brother, Doodle's, death because he never really liked him to begin with. William Armstrong (Doodle) was born a disabled child when the narrator was 6 years old. The narrator was wishing for a brother that he would be able to do things with and have fun with, but when the narrator was

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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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