Universal Themes In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

Relationships are one of the most important things in our lives whether it be family, friend, or God, and though many things will try to disturb those relationships, we must do everything we can to keep them secure and close to our hearts. “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a great short story that represents several universal themes throughout in which readers can identify. The main conflict of the story is between Brother and Doodle because Brother desperately wants Doodle to be able to live and function just like him, even though Doodle was born different from most people living in society, especially at that time. Three of the main themes that are defective in the story are man’s struggle with pride, his desires to please others, and his struggle to love and accept others for who they are.

Pride is one of the most dangerous things in the world and we can’t allow it to get in the way of what truly matters. The narrator states, “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” (Hurst 389). This displays to us that Brother only tries to help Doodle because he is ashamed of his brother’s disability. The pride drives him to anger against Doodle which further leads to Doodle’s death. He was poisoned by his pride. The narrator also tells us, “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death” (Hurst 388). Pride can be wonderful and terrible depending on what the result of it is, though it is terrible in most cases such as this one. Brother’s pride led to Doodle’s death because of his shame of Doodle. Brother put himself in the mind state that he would get Doodle to be like him and that mind state corrupted