All humans do things that they regret. In many stories, the protagonist’s greatest downfall tends to be his own actions. In James Hurst’s short story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” he develops the idea that one’s hubris will tend to lead to nothing but regret and devastation.
In the text, the author used foreshadowing to prophesize further tragedy. The best way the author demonstrates this is with the use of dialogue. In the text, the protagonist’s father explains how “[He] wouldn’t be surprised if [they] had a storm this afternoon” (471). It is clearly foreshadowed to express how there is going to be a disaster sometime in the story. Nothing ever ends well with a storm, and this is quite apparent in the story. Another example of the use of foreshadowing
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Brother has always been a selfish and manipulative kid. When Brother was trying to teach Doodle how to run and swim he would ask him if, “[He] wanted to be different from everybody else when [he] start school” (471). This reveals Brother’s true motives for teaching Doodle how to walk. He felt embarrassed to be around Doodle, who was an anomaly in society. The only way he thought to prevent this was to teach Doodle how to do what he wants. Showing just how selfish Brother really is. This is not the worse of it all; at the start of their lives, Doodle was so weak and frail that he couldn’t do anything that Brother wanted. He couldn’t fathom this idea, so he plotted “to kill him by smothering him with a pillow” (464). For Brother to even manifest the idea to murder his brother is not only selfish but also psychopathic. These characteristics of Brother will lead to his greatest …show more content…
When Brother taught Doodle how to walk, his family praised him for his selfless acts. But little do they know it was all a facade, his actions weren’t the nobles. Brother explains how “I began to cry [...] They did not know that I did it for myself” (468). This demonstrates how Brother is aware of the fact that what he is doing is selfish, yet he still proceeds despite this. The biggest regret that Brother has committed is displayed when his actions resulted in killing his brother. Due to Brother's selfish pride, he left Doodle alone in the rain which resulted in his death. The death of his brother devastated him to the point of helplessness. Brother expresses this by stating, “[I] threw my body to the earth above his […] I lay[ed] there crying, sheltering my fallen Scarlet Ibis from the heresy of rain” (475). Brother laying on top of Doodle shows how he wanted to protect him. The switch from tormenting to protecting him shows the transition of how much he truly loved him. He knows that it is his fault that Doodle died, but he was blinded by his pride to prevent it. And for that, he is truly contrite for his