'The Scarlet Ibis' By Hurst Theme

Introduction

In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis”, by James Hurst, it tells about a boy and his crippled brother. Throughout the story there are many events that depicts how the brothers are different and how the narrator is embarrassed by him. The theme of this story is that pride and ego can be harmful.

As soon as Doodle is born the narrator shows a sense of disappointment and hatred towards his brother. One of the first signs of the narrator's feelings is in the third paragraph when he says “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable, so I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow.” This shows that the narrator was disappointed and horrified of having a brother who would not be all there. It also shows that he was so embarrassed by his brother that he would even kill his brother so he wouldn't be embarrassed.

Another excerpt from the story that shows or helps develop the theme is in the

This is shown when the narrator starts to cry because his brother can walking. At first we feel a sense of love between the brothers. However the story writer quickly changes the mood by saying in the 3rd page “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.” This helps set the mood because it shows how far the narrator would go just so that his brother wouldn't hurt his pride or ego. It also supports the theme because at first it seems as if the narrator truly wanted to help his brother but then quickly realises he only did it for himself.

In this essay I discussed the theme and how it was developed. The main theme for this story was how ego and pride can harm others. Throughout the