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Scarlet Ibis Analysis Essay

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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). This act of cruelty and inhumane behaviour displays that the narrator is shameful of his brother to the point of death. …show more content…

Embarrassment was the one element which motivated the narrator to faithful in Doodle. The use of indirect characterization is clearly visible through the show of pride from the narrator to Doodle. Later on, when the two brothers headed of to Horseshead Landing to train Doodle, for he had “long way to go if he was going to keep up with the other boys”. In the middle of skiffing, a massive rainstorm was approaching them, requiring to fled the site.Both the brother one a foot step ahead and the other trying to keep up. Suddenly, “that streak of cruelty within me awakened”(19). The narrator kept on speeding away from Doodle leaving him farther and farther behind in the pouring rain, later to detect that Doodle was nothing but a “ Fallen Scarlet Ibis from the heresy of rain”. Rupture of the narrator’s own cruelty had caused Doodles life who once was the item of his pride. Through the actions of the narrator, Hurst makes it self evident that the narrator is been described as an indirect character. Throughout the story Hurst communicates that being enslaved to pride can lead to selfish thoughts no matter if their for

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In the story ‘Scarlet Ibis’ by James Hurst. The narrator is characterized as greedy and prideful to communicate the thought that too much pride can cause us to treat loved ones in cruel ways. At the beginning of the story, when the narrator and doodle are both young, the narrator seeing no matter how hard he tries, Doodle would “never do these things with me” Under frustration the narrator attempts to kill the baby by smothering him with a pillow. He stops and sees Doodle smile at him and realizes that he is smart and abandons the plan. "Mama, he smiled.

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In the story, “The Scarlet Ibis” author James Hurst uses indirect characterization through the thoughts and feeling of the protagonist towards his little brother Doodle to establish a meaningful theme. The theme is that being ashamed of those close to you often makes you lose sight of what that person may be going through, leading to regret in the future. In the beginning of the story, the protagonist talks about how his baby brother’s crawling made him resemble a doodle bug. This is why he calls his brother Doodle. “Renaming my brother was perhaps the kindest thing I ever did for him, because nobody expects much from someone named Doodle,” (3) the protagonist proceeds to explain.

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Abbie Scepurek Mrs. Kapsner English 10 hour 1 17 May 2024 Pride and Death In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, he uses death/dying to symbolize the selfish pride of a brother. One example is, Brother is making plans to kill Doodle by smothering him with a pillow because Doodle has special needs. “I began to make plans to kill him with a pillow”(Hurst 1). This shows how Brother is only thinking of himself and his pride because he doesn't want a disabled brother.

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This proves that pride can be evil because it is Brother himself that comprehends this years later after Doodle’s tragic death.

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As The Scarlet Ibis is told through flashbacks, the narrator’s personality shows itself. He is young, naive, and childishly cruel at times. Brother allows his current self to reflect upon the person he once was and realize he has changed. As a reader, we realize that Doodle’s death jaded him. After all of these years, he still regrets what happened to Doodle and wonders if it truly was his fault.

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The narrator’s pride in Doodle is both good and bad, it is good because it made them teach Doodle learn how to walk, but it is bad because they have cruel expectations of Doodle that comes out and acts harsh. Doodle’s disability affected the narrator by giving them a streak of cruelty towards Doodle. It was when the narrator stated, “One day I took him up to the barn loft and showed him his mahogany casket, telling him how we all had believed he would die”(Hurst 164). That was the effect of Doodle’s disability on the narrator, it made the narrator do harsh actions towards Doodle from embarrassment and

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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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I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us” (360). The narrator abandoned his brother during a vicious thunderstorm only because he wanted to retaliate against Doodle for not completing the program. Even the narrator himself said in the quote that a “streak of cruelty within me awakened” (Hurst, 360). The narrator knew that he was being cruel and proceeded with his actions, only out of spite and shame for his

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Analysis of “The Scarlet Ibis” How setting and Character Development Contribute to Theme The most prominent insight into human nature in the story “The Scarlet Ibis” is the focus on pride. The subject of pride is portrayed in many ways throughout the story. An example of when pride is demonstrated is the pride of Doodles brother. His pride is shown in a selfish manner, as he sees only how events can affect him. A time when we were able to see how important the brothers pride is to him is when he decides to teach Doodle to walk, and later on when he decides to teach him how to achieve other actions.

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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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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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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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In a person’s life, many situations transpire and make them feel pride over one’s self. Readers can see this in the short story,” The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. “In his spare time Hurst wrote short stories and plays, but The Scarlet Ibis was the only work of his that become famous “(gradesaver.com)”. In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis” James Hurst uses red to symbolize warning, death, and guilt to show the change the older brother goes through, as he takes care of Doodle. The first instance when red is used, is to express warning and the older brother’s attitude, is at Doodle’s birth.

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When the storm hits, the two brothers run back to the house but Doodle can not keep up and brother taken over by pride leaves him there alone. That powerful pride that brother has, always breaks his bond with Doodle, after the failed lesson they just had, he gives up on his brother. The narrator, clearly has a lot of things going on inside his head, lost he just leaves him there because of his failure and an inside pride. “I began to weep and the tear-blurred vision in red before me looked very familiar. Doodle I screamed above the pounding storm and threw my body to the earth above his.

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Hence the overarching theme when the narrator puts all his pride in Doodle, and Doodle ends up failing, the narrators pride starts

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