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Doodle's Pride In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

675 Words3 Pages

Swiss poet Johann Kasper Lavater said, “When pride begins, love ceases.” Pride is a dangerous road, it can either lead to danger, or it can lead to a positive life. For instance, Doodle from ‘The Scarlet Ibis” and this quote are interconnected because his older brother’s pride impacted Doodle both positively and negatively. Doodle always wanted to be around him , so he kept pushing himself which resulted in his tragic demise. Though it benefitted Doodle, it caused him to meet his untimely demise. Beknownst to the older brother, Doodle was a good brother. In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Doodle is an excellent brother because he is caring and forgiving. One of Doodle attributes was his ability to forgive. On …show more content…

He never told his mom when the older brother had hurt him. Doodle’s brother said “Sometimes I accidentally turned him over, but he never told Mama. (Hurst)”, this was around the time Doodle was three, so he cared about his brother even when he was very young. Furthermore, Doodle is caring because he buried the scarlet ibis after the bird died. Doodle and his family have crowded around this exotic, mysterious bird, “Daddy, Mama, and I went back to the dining-room table, but we watched Doodle through the open door. He took out a piece of string from his pocket and, without touching the ibis, looped one end around its neck. Slowly, while singing softly "Shall We Gather at the River," he carried the bird around to the front yard and dug a hole in the flower garden, next to the petunia bed. (Hurst)”, Doodle’s family watched went back inside, refusing to touch the bird. However, Doodle stayed and felt sympathy for the scarlet ibis, which resulted in a clumsily dug grave and quiet burial. Doodle was the only one that stayed, the one that didn’t give the bird a quick glance then moved on with his day. He took time to give this beautiful bird a grave because he cared for the bird. In summary, Doodle’s ability to let his brother’s malicious nature towards him slide and digging the scarlet ibis a grave is proof that he’s a caring

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In the story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Doodle’s older brother is responsible for his death because he hated having a crippled brother and he was selfish. The older brother was embarrassed to have a crippled brother. He ran away, leaving Doodle feeling a bit cruel. Doodle and his older brother found a dead scarlet ibis in their yard. They went together to bury it.

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Pride can be a really good thing that keeps you going and makes you try hard, but it is also a very destructive force that can hurt you and others. Doodle was one of those people who got hurt because of someone's pride. In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst the story shows that the narrator is guilty of Doodle’s death. These are my two reasons supporting this claim. First off the narrator was ashamed of Doodle, and second He just simply did not like Doodle.

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One Saturday, a few days before the deadline, a scarlet ibis flew into their yard, only to die after coming from the tropics. Doodle seemed to have a special connection and sadness about the bird’s death; he was depressed for a long period of time afterwards. They continue to persevere until the night before the deadline. That

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I. Introduction Attention Getter Before becoming a writer, James Hurst was young engineer, but, he switched to a musical career. During his musician days, he auditioned for the opera;however, he failed and supported himself as a writer and night bank clerk. “The Scarlet Ibis,” was first published in the Atlantic Monthly, where he made his writing debut with his touching story between the two brothers.

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Aunt Nicey is prompted to declare that “‘dead birds [are] bad luck, [especially] red dead birds’“(562). It foreshadows the narrator’s remorse by integrating Doodle’s death with the superstition of misfortune and the color red. In the following events, Doodle dies from exhaustion under a red nightshade bush containing poisonous berries, symbolizing death and forcing the narrator to regret the spite in him that led to his brother’s demise. The scarlet color of the bird contrasts with the shade of blood that is shown through the end of Doodle’s life. Hurst describes Doodle with “his head thrown far back, making his vermillion neck appear unusually long and slim” (564), which in comparison resembles the bird’s long neck and creates a similarity between Doodle and the ibis.

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"Doodle!" I screamed above the pounding storm and threw my body to the earth above his. For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain”(Hurst 6).This section shows from the end of Doodle’s life onward Brother has felt guilty. The whole story is Brothers story of the dangers of pride and his personal experience.

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His pride exploded. The older brother finally realized that the only reason he was helping Doodle was to help himself. His pride then proceeded to cloud his consense making him do the unthinkable; abandon Doodle. Once the pride loosened its grip on him he decided to go back for Doodle, but only found his lifeless body lying beneath a red nightshade bush. “For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain.”

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The scarlet ibis symbolizes Doodle. “It lives in the tropics. How many miles it has traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree,” (424). Doodle, like the scarlet ibis, does not belong in his environment. He is mentally and physically impaired, which makes him different and stand out.

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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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The older brother likely had the realization it could have been Doodle dead in that moment, instead of the ibis. Later, Doodle buried the Ibis, being the only one that wanted to do so. Even in Doodle’s state he finished burying the bird, when the reader could see a similarity in the beginning of the story in reverse on how they thought they would be burying Doodle in the coffin they built for him. Instead he is giving the Ibis a

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Doodle does have an emotional side and that first stuck in the story when the author says ( Sadly, we all looked back out at the bird, a Scarlet Ibis. How many miles it had travelled to die like this in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree) (424) This quote demonstrates how the Scarlet Ibis represents Doodle’s life, his achievements, goals. It shows the struggles Doodle suffered through and experienced throughout his journey with his older brother, and how sensitive and fragile Doodle can be especially when he is left alone. The Scarlet Ibis is very similar to Doodle in many ways, like how the Scarlet Ibis was forced to follow the hurricane just like how Doodle was forced to conform to society or how both Doodle and the bird died under the bleeding tree.

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Doodle felt obliged to bury said bird, Which was found out to be the Scarlet Ibis. After that event, Doodle and his brother were in the forest at the start of a storm, and Doodles ended up dying from the storm. His brother then regretted for pushing him so hard

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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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In the story “The Scarlet Ibis”,James Hurst uses choice and emotion to explain what the relationship between Doodle and his brother is like. When Doodle was born no one thought he was going to survive, yet when he was three months old they decided to name him. He was named

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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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