Brotherhood in “The Scarlet Ibis” One of the most important bonds you share with someone is brotherhood. It is a bond established on trust, dependence, and love. When that bond is broken, the consequences can last a lifetime. The author in the story has a little brother named William Armstrong, but they call him Doodle. Doodle is a very frail, weak boy, and was born with a large head and small body. The two boys grow up playing and having many adventures together. Because of Doodle’s condition, his brother gets embarrassed of him a lot, and tries to “fix” him so that he can be normal like him. In many situations, his intentions are right, but his heart isn’t in the right place, and he makes many selfish choices without Doodle even knowing. He often takes advantage of Doodle. Doodle’s brother often times takes him for granted. …show more content…
The author was humiliated at the thought of having a crippled brother, so he decided to teach him how to walk for the sake of his reputation. “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed of having a brother who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him(Hurst 2).” “They did not know that I did it out of pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all of their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother(Hurst 3.” The author clearly has good intentions with his plan, however, he is only doing them for the glory of himself, and not for his brother. In the end, when everyone sees Doodle walk, he realizes how selfish he was and is immediately overwhelmed with joy for Doodle. He realized that Doodle’s joy and well being is the whole reason he should help