The Struggle In Mark Twain's 'Scarlet Ibis'
“For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain.” (page 6). These are the parting words of James Hearst from his short story, The Scarlet Ibis. The line describes the moment in which the narrator cradles the body of his dead brother, William Armstrong, more commonly known as Doodle. In the story, Doodle dies of a combination of a heart condition, fatigue, pneumonia, and the Spanish flu.
doodle isn’t supposed to walk but brother wants to prove everybody wrong. “I can’t walk, brother’ he said. ‘Who says so?’ I demanded” (Hurst 3). When doodle was born they said it was really likely doodle wasn’t gonna make it because of weak bones and heart.
and he was’” (Hurst 351). Brother taught Doodle how to walk for self-embarrassment later realized that he wasn’t the only one effected by
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
The allegory”The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is about two brother; one of the brothers name is Doodle and he is born with a birth defect and he is expected to die, but his older brother wants him to be normal, so he tries to teach him how to run and swim .First, you should know that doddle family expected him to die so they built him a little coffin. Doodle started doing things like crawling, but backwards when he was a baby, but the doctor said the strain of sitting up could kill him because of his weak heart. As Doodle got older, he started doing more and more normal things like running, walking, and swimming. One day Doodle and his brother were running in the woods while a storm was happening and Doodle fell and his brother kept running,
In the story the Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst the narrator knows what he did was wrong. In the end, he realized that his own pride was the downfall for his own little brother. For wanting a normal little brother and not a crippled one. As stated on page 2 “ It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable, so I began to make my plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow”. Clearly, in this sentence, it shows that the narrator would rather have no brother at all than having one that is crippled.
On page 347 the brother admits his guilt, “’What are you crying for?’ asked Daddy, but I couldn’t answer. 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.” As you can see, the brother not only avoided the doctor’s directions of no walking because Doodle is special, but only taught him for the plain reason of being ashamed of a disabled sibling. This harmful pride doesn’t stop there.
"Shut up. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to teach you to walk." Brother heaved him up again, and again he collapsed. One day after many days of practice Doodle finally stood alone for a few seconds.
Hurst says, “that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” “ "What are you crying for? " asked Daddy, but I couldn't answer. They didn't know that I did it just for myself, that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother. ” (Hurst)
However, when Doodle finally succeeds in walking, it is revealed that his older brother only does it only for his own pride and because he does not want to be embarrassed of his little brother. After the walking accomplishment, Doodle’s older brother prepares “...a terrific development program for...” Doodle. He teaches “him to run, to swim, to climb trees,
The story follows the conventions of tragedy and illustrates it in the form of a boy named Doodle. The narrator finally decides to help Doodle walk and to teach him different skills. He does this not out of the kindness of his heart, nor for the good of Doodle.
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
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.
Eventually the narrator taught Doodle to walk, then decided to teach Doodle other abilities that would make Doodle be considered “Normal.” The narrator was so engrossed in this task that he did not notice that Doodle could not keep up. “I made him swim until he turned blue and row until he couldn't lift an oar. Wherever we went, I purposely walked fast, and although he kept up, his face turned red and his eyes became glazed. Once, he could go no further, so he collapsed on the ground and began to cry.”
The only reason a Brother taught Doodle how to walk was for his own personal gain. Brother is ashamed of Doodle because of his disability and [Doodle] walked only because [Brother] was ashamed of having a crippled brother. It is incredibly selfish to put your personal gain over someone else’s illness, especially if it's your own baby brother.
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