Theme Of Pride In The Scarlet Ibis By Hurst

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Pride is a double­edged sword that can either be positive or negative. Set in the southern

part of the United States in the early 1900s, “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst describes the

narrator’s struggle to accept his disabled brother Doodle for who he is. The narrator pushes

Doodle to do the things he is unable to do, which contributes to his death at the end of the the

story. Hurst’s immense detail of the narrator reveals how pride can both cause beneficial and

destructive effects.

In the beginning of the story, the narrator’s pride has a beneficial effect towards Doddle.

Because of Doodle’s deficiencies, everyone in his family were skeptical of if he would ever be

“all there” in his mind. The narrator is the first to recognize