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The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst: Character Analysis

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“The Scarlet Ibis”, by James Hurst, demonstrates the motivation and determination that Brother and Doodle have to accomplish their goals. Brother always wants a brother to play with. However, he finds out that Doodle was a cripple, and that crumbles his hope of having a brother physically capable of being a companion. Brother dislikes carrying him around and taking care of him. As a result, Brother’s prideful nature and his shame of Doodle motivates him to teach Doodle how to walk. Both Brother and Doodle begin to be convinced that hard work would allow Doodle to surpass his disabilities and to not give up so easily. Soon, they both begin to discover that Doodle can do much more than just walking, thanks to Brother’s decisions. Brother, powered …show more content…

“Time was short, and Doodle still had a long way to go if he was going to keep up with the other boys when he started school” (Hurst 492). Brother wants Doodle to keep up with his classmates. He doesn’t want all of his hard work to go to waste, and wants Doodle to feel normal, instead of being the odd one out. Brother believes Doodle can accomplish anything if he put in hard work. Brother feels as if Doodle has enough confidence to work on new things, such as running. Brother does not want Doodle’s accomplishments and mindset stop abruptly. “Success lay at the end of summer like a pot of gold, and our campaign got off to a good start” (Hurst 489). They both believe that Doodle will have accomplished the impossible by the end of summer. Brother has faith in Doodle that he can do anything he wants, as long as he has the right work ethic. They both are excited for when all their hard work pays off. “We decided to double our efforts, to make that drive and reach our pot of gold. I made him swim until he turned blue and row until he couldn’t lift an oar” (Hurst 490). Brother feels as if he and Doodle spent too much time and work into this for it to all go in vain. Brother is confident in Doodle that he will succeed. As summer comes to a close, Brother feels bittersweet. He had enjoyed spending

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Summary Of Brother In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

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This shows Brothers weakness of over committing. Brother pushes Doodle too far just to achieve one simple goal. Not only does Brother make Doodle swim and row, but he also makes him run until he can not anymore. Second of all, Brother

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Summary Of Foreshadowing In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

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The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst is an exceptional story which demonstrates several separate examples of foreshadowing. The author James Hurst most strongly uses foreshadowing in order to predicts the death of Doodle. Now to elaborate on the examples and importance of foreshadowing in The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst. The first chance we get to see the brilliant foreshadowing used is quite early on when Doodle is named William Armstrong.

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“The Scarlet Ibis,” written by James Hurst, is a bittersweet story. A weak autistic child is born into a family of cotton farmers. They name the child Doodle, which was given by his older brother. His brother was often cruel, but he pushed Doodle to work to fit in. They fail in their efforts at the end of summer.

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Brother took a lot of his own time to help teach Doodle things like to walk. Everyone said that Doodle would never be able to stand up, but brother was tired of lugging doodle everywhere so he taught him how to walk. ”I'm going to teach you to walk doodle”(Hurst 2). With everything that brother did to help out Doodle to become a normal a normal person meant a lot to Doodle. Doodle was the only thing

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The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst Theme Statement

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At a young age Doodle wants to go with his brother everywhere: “To discourage him coming with me, I’d run with him across the ends of the cotton rows and carren him around corners on two wheels” ( Hurst 465). When Doodle was five, his older brother was embarrassed with having a brother you could not walk. So he helped his brother learn, after a few weeks of trying to stand up. On Doodle’s sixth birthday he walked: “That Doodle only walked because I was ashamed of having a crippied brother” (468). After that, he wants to teach Doodle to swim and climb but before they can do that a storm comes.

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The Scarlet Ibis Brother Character Analysis

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In James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis”, Brother is self-centered by viewing his younger brother, Doodle, as a burden because of his physical limitations. Because Doodle is born extremely weak, “The doctor [says] that he mustn’t get too hot, too cold, or too tired and must always be treated gently” however “all of which [Brother] [ignores] once they [get] out of the house” (Hurst 47). Since his younger brother limits him, Brother is purposely careless around his sibling so he can participate in activities of his choice. Doodle is also so medically restrained that Brother is worried about his self-image being tainted by the fact that he has a lame brother. Also Brother realizes despite his wanting to roam the family farm freely and possibly spend

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Scarlet Ibis Character Analysis Essay

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In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Brother doesn’t realize what his pride costs him until it’s too late. As a weak child, no one expects Doodle, Brother’s younger brother, to survive past infancy, but he does live. When Doodle turns six, Brother aims to teach him how to walk. It takes Doodle a while to get the hang of it, but with great patience and determination he achieves his goal. After a ferocious storm, a Scarlet Ibis drifts into the family's front yard, but is too weak and dies.

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Doodle’s older brother only helps him for himself. He’s Embarrassed of having a brother like Doodle. “he was a outset and disappointment ever since he was born when I was six”(462). Doodle’s brother knew Doodle was going to be different from the very beginning but could never accept it. When Doodle got older

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Forshadow Doodle's Death In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

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In “The Scarlet Ibis”, by James Hurst, a narrator tells a story in flashback of his childhood experiences with his brother, Doodle. He makes us aware of how Doodle was expected to die because of his weak heart, but he lived. Doodle learned to crawl, but he couldn’t walk or do many of the most common physical activities because of his disability. When Doodle was five, Brother taught him to walk and they decided to set a deadline of when Doodle should be able to box, run, swim, and row a boat. They struggled to reach the deadline and the work was very laborious for Doodle.

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Brother is ashamed of Doodle’s disability because Doodle isn't like other boys. Brother is trying to make Doodle as normal as possible so that other kids don't bully them. So, Doodle is taught to walk by Brother. Brother says, “I was embarrassed of having a brother that age

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C.S. Lewis once quoted, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of, course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” This exemplifies the genuine idea of what pride can do to a soul. Many never fully acknowledge the sincere people who sit around them, and the beauties these individuals hold. Similarly, in Hurst’s, “The Scarlet Ibis,” Doodle’s older brother, the narrator, is driven to push Doodle to succeed in various activities, because he cannot seem to see Doodle’s “inner beauty.” As the thought of making Doodle the best he can be, and displaying his “inner beauty,” eventually leads to a horrific tragedy.

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Compare And Contrast Scarlet Ibis And Simon Birch

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Simon Birch’s brother treated him with much more respect than Doodle’s brother did. Doodle’s brother taught him how to walk because he wanted to have a able bodied brother. ”When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him” (James Hurst 132) Whereas Simon’s brother Joe did things out of the love of his heart.

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During the short story, Brother relentlessly pushes Doodle to see him improve and defy his disabilities. To begin, Brother’s persistent ambitions first became evident when Brother first began to teach Doodle how to walk. Brother becomes agitated by Doodles supposed lack of effort, so Brother “took him by the arms and stood him up. He collapsed onto the grass like a half-empty flour sack.

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Brother put lots of his time, effort, and care into Doodle even though "It's a miracle [he] didn't give up" (Hurst). His efforts showed the pride he had, or at least wanted to have in his younger sibling; even if it was rooted in selfishness. Pride is what motivated Brother to help him, though he wished it was his family which gave him the grit to always push Doodle to success. Brother

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