The Scarlet Ibis Pride Quotes

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Pride is a dangerous thing that can destroy your life in a blink of an eye. One of the best examples of this is the story “The Scarlet Ibis,” written by James Hurst. This story is about a boy and his younger brother “Doodle.” Doodle is very far behind all the other kids his age and his brother is determined to catch him up. After teaching him one thing his pride gets the better of him and one day he pushes too hard and the worst happens. The moment when the brother considers smothering Doodle with a pillow shows the dark side of pride and how it can completely control someone. The brother thinks “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.” The brother is ashamed of the thought of having a brother that was not all there was unbearable. This clearly shows that even at a young age pride got the better of him and shows the dangerous end of pride. His being ashamed of his brother shows his pridefulness …show more content…

Initially, he was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so he set out to teach him. After weeks of practicing, he finally succeeded in doing so. The brother started to believe in his infallibility, or more suited term “cockiness.” Then he created a plan to teach him all sorts of things like, running, swimming, etc, etc, basic things any kid should be able to do. After that, they didn’t make much progress. Doodle could barely clear the ground when climbing up the rope vines and his swimming was horrid. Even with all this, they continued as the brother couldn’t put his pride aside and stop, so they didn’t. The brother, unable to do so, pushes Doodle more and more eventually going too far and ending with a miserable