The Brother In A Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

Imagine being born and already having your coffin prepared for your death. That is precisely what happened in the short story “A Scarlet Ibis” , By James Hurst. A boy who was later nicknamed Doodle was born with a physical disability, and everyone thought he was going to die. But to the family’s surprise he survived, his brother, the narrator was determined to kill Doodle but, one small event triggered the brother to have an internal conflict. As they went through their childhood, the two brothers changed, but due to an awful occurrence Doodle died. Over the course of the story, the Brother went from being a selfish and disappointed to being accepting and more empathetic because he realized how much much he cared about Doodle when he smiled,

When Doodle had defied all costs and survived the Brother had no intentions of helping or giving his Doodle any hope. So instead of being grateful, he thought, “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable” (464). At this point, the Brother was only thinking about himself and how he was hurt from his brother not being able to do anything. He didn't put himself in his Doodle’s shoes to see what life was like with a physical disability. He expressed his negative opinion about him. Later on, the Brother expressed disappointment in Doodle; he explained, “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn't walk” (466). The Brother was ashamed of Doodle for something he couldn't control; therefore, he only cared about his prosperity and no one

The first thing Doodle accomplished was getting the Brother to change his mind about killing Doodle. The Brother explained, “He looked straight at me and grinned” (464). Even though the Brother was still cruel after this, this was a small step towards a brotherly relationship and instead of thoughts about death, he had thoughts about triumph. The Brother has a change in mind because he was destined to have a perfect brother and with that smile, it proved to him that there was hope. Later on in the story, after the Brother helped Doodle walk, they both decided to surprise their family by having Doodle walk. When Doodle walked, everyone bombarded him and they all cried, in addition to the family the brother also cried, the brother thought, “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (468). He finally understood that he was wrong because his ways were selfish and he wanted to care about Doodle and he wanted to help him be successful not just for himself. His decisions made him reevaluate what he did