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Doodle's Pride In The Scarlet Ibis, By James Hurst

695 Words3 Pages

“The Scarlet Ibis” Revision

Brainstorm
Doodle’s Coffin
Narrator’s own insecurities over Doodle’s state
The way pride over takes him because of his own wants- quote

Doodle Walking and Narrator Crying
Narrator crying because he knows how his pride is affecting his own treatment of Doodle
Still not over pride- hasn’t gotten past it

Doodle’s Death
Narrator realizes full consequence of actions when doodle dies
Connects to the Scarlet Ibis due to the way he pushed Doodle

Paragraph

In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis” the story follows the narrator and his brother Doodle throughout their early childhood and captures the struggle of the young disabled Doodle and the narrator’s pride. By the end of the story, the narrator becomes …show more content…

The narrator explains how he brought Doodle everywhere, pulling him in a cart and never leaving him behind, which sets him up as caring. But, the author soon reveals more about the narrator as he shows us the first act of pure cruelty the narrator does- shows Doodle his own coffin. The pure relentless nature the narrator shows as he taunts the fact of Doodle’s almost death as an infant sets up the understanding of just how much the narrator is affected by pride to the reader, showing his own desires take over and get this best of him. The narrator states in the text “...I wanted more then anything else to race to Horsehead Landing, someone to box with…” setting his own expectations for doodle. But since Doodle cannot fully live up to these expectations, the narrator grows insecure over Doodle’s own disability, making his pride take over and causing the narrator to be cruel to his brother …show more content…

He relates the death back to the scarlet ibis’s using synonyms like red because Doodle is that scarlet ibis. The narrator understands that his pride made him teach Doodle to walk and that pride made him push Doodle away from his home indoors, like how the scarlet ibis was away from it’s home in South America. This is when the narrator’s character arch is finally completed within the story, as he both realizes his own mistakes and how his pride has caused his own brother’s death. This proven even further because of the way the story is told- in past tense. The narrator looks back as an adult and understands his own pride, stating in the first pages “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” This proves that the narrator learns the full affect of his pride and carries it even into his adult

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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.

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On page 112,paragraph 6 the author gives a great example of the narrator being selfish . The reason I say the narrator is selfish is because is because he didn't care what Doodle wanted to do about his disabilities. He didn’t want to be the

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His brother only thinks of himself and only cares of his own achievements and success, making him not care so much for his brother which leads him to the guilt in the end of the story from what happened and what he did to his brother. The Scarlet Ibis connects with this theme because the Scarlet Ibis is a representation of Doddle in the story, foreshadowing what will happen to Doodle and how his brother is left with the feeling of guilt from Doodle’s death (the theme of guilt). In conclusion, the story uses many different forms of symbols and foreshadowing, some listed, to help get the reader's thinking and to create another meaning to the story besides what’s just literally written down in the text. They both help connect to the main theme of the story and in the end, instead of making the story a boring book required for class, it becomes a piece of literary art because of its multitudes of meanings and beauty from inside the

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Title of Your Report In the “Scarlet Ibis” James Hurst uses indirect characterization, mainly through the narrator's own actions and feeling toward his brother, to communicate the main theme that pride is constructed upon selfish thoughts whether it’s for good or bad intentions. Early in the story, the narrator expresses his feeling towards Doodle, a child who was born physically disabled and incapable of activities such as “Running, jumping, and climbing the vines in Old Woman Swamp”, as a downset and a disappointment that only death could fix. No longer being able to hold back dealing with an invalid brother, the narrator has thoughts of murder. “I began plans to kill him by smothering him with my pillow”(3).

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Fated Death Many who come across “The Scarlet Ibis”, written by James Hurst, believe Doodle’s brother is to blame for Doodle’s eventual death. However, such is a widely inaccurate opinion, as it is evident Doodle’s death is caused by the cruel hand of fate. Fate is seen at play through the constant foreshadowing the reader sees in the text. Such is clearly demonstrated through the presence of the Scarlet Ibis.

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When someone is full of pride, they cannot love others for who they are and tend to make bad decisions. The narrator only cared about himself and wanted to kill Doodle for his own personal gain. His pride took him over and led him into making the wrong choice. Then after the pride came the guilt that followed. It can be inferred that he will never be able to forgive himself after what he did.

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In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis,” the narrator’s remorseful attitude towards Doodle’s death is illustrated through the utilization of foreshadowing and flashback. This is made evident through the passing of the scarlet ibis and the narrator’s own prideful behavior and faith in his infallibility. The scarlet ibis that symbolizes Doodle with its death is incorporated into the foreseeable outcome of the end of Doodle’s life, and the indication of the narrator’s future guilt is manifested through his reminiscence of cruelty he displayed towards Doodle in his past. The significance of the appearance of the bird is emphasized alongside specific characteristics to foreshadow Doodle’s own fate, followed by the narrator’s guilt.

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The Narrator in “The Scarlet Ibis” is undoubtedly responsible for his brothers’ death. The Narrator pushes doodle too hard all while ignoring

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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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In The Scarlet Ibis, the author revealed finally the real feelings of Brother toward his brother Doodle. During the whole incidents of the short story, Brother is not accepting Doodle as a brother because of the abnormality which Doodle suffered from and so Brother feels ashamed. The last scene in the short story is so tragic. The scene is portrayed as Brother returned back to Doodle who was found dead, having bled from the mouth and his neck is covered in blood. The act of crying and screaming by Brother for the death of his brother Doodle is a pure tragic scene and by such scene the reader makes the readers feel that Brother loves his brother Doodle and for such love he tried to protect him from an outside world.

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Hurst uses foreshadowing in the form of the Narrator’s internal dialogue (i.e. “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death”), as well as the dialogue between the Narrator and Doodle (i.e. “‘I’m going to teach you to walk, Doodle […] so I won’t have to haul you around all the time’”), to illustrate his guilt. Both elements support the idea that the narrator’s guilt is due to his pride throughout the story, and the Narrator understands and acknowledges that he harmed and ultimately killed Doodle. Thus, the Narrator becomes the storm that kills the Scarlet Ibis: his crippled

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The Scarlet Ibis How did Doodle die? Why did Doodle die? Was it his Brother? Doodle was born a disabled kid who was loved by everybody in his family except his brother (The narrator of this story). The narrator wished for a perfect brother that his would be able to do things with but when he wasn’t given that it caused him to do things that no brother should ever do or think about doing to his younger brother.

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The Scarlet Ibis In Literature,authors use many different literary techniques to develop the themes of their stories. In James Hurst's short story”The Scarlet Ibis” set in the early nineteen hundreds on a rural farm,the narrator flashes back to his childhood days as he tells of his life with his brother Doodle. As Doodle struggles to overcome his handicap,his brother struggles with his embarrassment at having a brother who has difficulties. Through his use of characters and event, Hurst develops his theme”that pride is a wonderful,terrible thing,a seed that bears two vines,life and death. Through hurst use of events in the story you can seen how his theme,”pride is a wonderful terrible thing” unfolds through the story .

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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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