“The Scarlet Ibis”: The Dangerous Brother “He was born when I was six and was, from the outset, a disappointment. He seemed all head, with a tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man's. Everybody thought he was going to die”(Hurst 1). Brother always wanted the perfect little brother that could run, jump, play, swim, and swing from vines. However, when Doodle is born, he realizes this is not possible. In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst uses the characterization of Brother to show that one’s pride can get in the way of accepting who people are. In the beginning, Brother’s pride continually forces Brother to make decisions that are unwise and have drastic consequences. Brother stated, “It was bad enough having an invalid …show more content…
It is narrated as follows: “The knowledge that Doodle's and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awakened. I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us” (Hurst 8). The narrator, also known as brother, has met his peak and completely let himself be taken over by his pride. Brother knows that Doodle can not run fast so he takes advantage of that and forgets about the plan and does not care about it anymore because this is the moment were his pride gets to the best of him. Brother is thinking that if Doodle can catch up to his speed, that means Doodle will be normal. Brother does not realize that what he is doing wrong, that when he returns to Doodle he sees instead of his little brother panting and resting, his little brother lifeless on the ground. The pride of brother gets in the way of accepting Doodle for who he is in the short story “The Scarlet Ibis”. Brother’s pride gets in the way, takes over, reaches its peak and leads to die or consequences. While reading this short story, the readers will enter the mind of Brother and see the progression of his pride and the effects of it as