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Pride In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

444 Words2 Pages
Pride subconsciously clouds people’s judgement and makes them forget their surroundings. Surprisingly, love can do the same thing. The difference is pride awakens the cruelty in our hearts while love awakens the compassion. Knowing this, it seems fit that compassion triumphs over cruelty. However, in James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis”, the narrator recounts how pride defeats love and consequently, his brother dies. Throughout the story, the narrator develops the central idea of how love and pride can be both helpful and harmful. Readers observe the theme of love and pride through Brother’s contradictory acts of kindness and cruelty towards Doodle. While Brother knows he loves Doodle, he is always pushing him to be better for his
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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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In the short story "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst we learn that a person should enjoy everything they have while they have it because it will not always be there. Early in the story this is showed when Hurst writes "It was the clove of the seasons and summer was dead, but autumn had not yet been born. " This resembles everything that has any form of life and some other things will always eventually die. Just like all the flowers in the pots around Brother and Doodle's house, the plants in old women swamp, and everything anywhere will eventually die. As Brother said "It seemed like forever, I lay there sheltering my Scarlet Ibis from the Hersey of the rain.

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In "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst the character Doodle often tells lies that seem to tell about his inner life. The lies become stories about people that can fly and of a boy named Peter who has a gorgeous pet peacock. The characters he creates are free to go wherever they want since they can fly; they flying characters represent Doodle's longing for mobility and freedom. His characters not only have working legs, but they also have wings to fly them wherever they wish to go. One of Doodle's favorite lies to tell is the story of Peter.

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In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the older brother is responsible for Doodle’s death because he let his cruelty get the best of him. To start, the older brother admits that he has a hatred towards Doodle. The older brother was disappointed with Doodle because Doodle was so different from everyone due to his health. Which created a love-hate relationship with Doodle. He says, “There is inside me a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love.”

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Although with bad intentions Brother’s pride came with positive effects. The first effect that Brother’s had was that it helped him perceive that Doodle was an intelligent human being. “Mama, he smiled. He’s all there! He’s all there!

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A story writing by James Hurst called “The Scarlet Ibis”, is about a boy that is born in a clove of summer and autumn and his name is Doodle. Doodle was born all head, with a tiny body which is red and shriveled like an old man’s, also he had a caul and his head which is very rare to get. Everyone thought he is going to die, expected for Aunt Nicey. The narrator brother helped him walk when many thought he would not. Everyone said he would not do something and he did it.

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Thesis Statement Despite the fact that pride is considered an incredible feeling of motivation and happiness, the author James Hurst through his characters, Doodle and the older brother, in his story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” proves ,it is in fact, a masked detrimental and beneficial feeling of selfishness and guilt. II. First Thesis Point- Topic

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The Scarlet Ibis is a short story by James Hurst telling about Brother and his disabled little brother Doddle. Brother just wants to have a 'normal' six-year old brother, so he sets out for it. Brother tries to fill in the hole in his heart caused by shame and selfishness toward Doddle as the story continues. " I made him swim until he turned blue, and row until he couldn't lift an oar." (hurst 341)

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In James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis,” strong forces lead to loss too soon. Doodle was not the most ideal brother, leading to turmoil inside the boy. To him, Doodle was an embarrassment, leading to a powerful urge to make him walk (Hurst 112). Sometimes family isn’t perfect, but it is what it is; there is no choice. The boy needed to not let him get ahead of himself.

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In this short story “The Scarlet Ibis” depicts the relationship between two brothers. A story, that filled me with sadness and tears as I was reading it. As I contemplated the relationship between big brother and Doodle, the pride, cruelty, and selfish behavior that big brother portrayed was cruel. Reading more in depth into the story, I couldn’t help myself, I felt horrible for Doodle. Pride and malice play a big part in this story.

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Brother now sees the horrible effect pride has had changed his life. In this story Brother has learned that pride has covered his love. He has also learned that Doodle has loved him and if they would have loved each other equally that maybe Doodle could have died differently. This story is a life lesson. Pride affects everybody and it is important to remember that their is a cruel streak in

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Brother never cared for Doodle. He wanted Doodle to be a normal kid before going to school. Also the short story had a wonderful side. Although brother wanted to kill Doodle, he later started loving him. Things Doodle said and did, made pride a wonderful

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In the progression of the story, we can witness the narrator feeling towards Doodle evolve. Every now and then, the narrator expresses genuine care and affection. However, on many occasions, his pride gets in the way. This change makes him obsessed with forcing Doodle to do things that are beyond his powers, and he often pushes him too far by trying to change him. Such a desire to rearrange doodles shows the different aspects of family ties common with people.

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In the opening of the story, the narrator is ashamed of Doodle, but in time, the narrator develops into a forgiving, loving person. This overall change was sparked by the death of Doodle. His love that was hidden throughout the story, is finally revealed after Doodle dies in the storm. These changes that the narrator undergoes, taught the reader the many consequences that pride can have on someone, and how it can be certainly evil, depending on the circumstances. To recap, C.S. Lewis mentions, “as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you,” which relates to the evilness the narrator obtains throughout the story till the death of his brother.

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Is Pride Good Or Bad What do you think of when you hear pride? I think of someone who has a foolishly and irrationally corrupt sense of values and goals. It is a way of thinking that Involves so much selfishness that it blinds one into thinking that they are able to manipulate others how they want. Which becomes so important that they will not quit until they achieve their own goal.

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