The Scarlet Ibis Analysis Essay
“Pride can cost you everything and leave you with nothing” (Anonymous). In “The Scarlet Ibis” the author shows the danger of having pride by telling the story of a boy named Doodle who lost his life because his brother had too much pride. “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a tragic short story about the dangers of pride. James Hurst creates the theme by creating a conflict within the narrator, developing characters that create the theme, and using symbols to empower the lesson.
A boy (unnamed throughout the story) has a conflict within himself thanks to all the pride he gained after he succeeds in making Doodle (the crippled brother) walk. It was hard for him to accept Doodle being crippled after he succeeds in making his brother walk, so he gains a regrettable amount of pride. “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride… Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” Once they had set out to make Doodle seem like a normal kid, he begins to feel his own infallibility, eventually leading to a heartbreaking mistake. “It was too late to turn back, for we had both wandered too
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far into a net of expectations and had left no crumbs behind.” Doodle’s heart was not strong enough to keep up with everything his brother set out for him, causing his brother to feel deeper shame. “He had failed and we both knew it, so we started back home, racing the storm. We never spoke (what are the words that can solder cracked pride?), but I knew he was watching me, watching for a sign of mercy.” There is a conflict between the older brother with himself; his pride taking over his sense of passion for Doodle. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst portrays the character of the older brother as selfish and full of pride while Doodle as a determined yet somewhat easily frightened character. The older brother thinks about none other than himself when he teaches Doodle. “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride… Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” Doodle is always up for the challenge, no matter what; although he became frightened, he accepts rather than refuse. “One day I took him up to the barn loft and showed him his casket… Doodle studies the mahogany box for a long time “…before I’ll help you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it.”… he leaned toward the coffin. His hands trembling, he reached out…” The character of the narrator has strong confidence in himself and believes he is infallible. “Once I had succeeded in teaching Doodle to walk, I began to believe in my own infallibility.” James Hurst uses characterization well to develop the theme of the story by creating the characters of Doodle as determined and his older brother as selfish; this shows how having the mindset of the narrator can cost you everything and leave you with nothing. James Hurst uses many symbols to help create the theme of this story.
For example, when they found the Scarlet Ibis dead, the symbol of red flowers in the broken vase was used to resemble the dead bird’s beauty. “Even death did not mar its grace, for it lay on the earth like a broken vase of red flowers…” After Doodle had learned to walk, hope was symbolized by a bright cardinal; only this was the beginning of the older brother’s pride getting too big. “Hope (of Doodle walking) no longer hid in the dark palmetto thicket but perched like a cardinal in the lazy toothbrush tree, brilliantly visible.” The biggest symbol in “The Scarlet Ibis” was a slave resembling pride. “… that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices…” Symbolism shows how powerful pride can be and it helps set the theme of the
story. “Pride comes before fall.” A Spanish proverb resembles “The Scarlet Ibis’s theme well. James Hurst shows readers what pride can do to not just you, but your loved ones as well. He writes this sad, yet valuable short story teaching a strong lesson using conflict, characterization, and symbolism.
Doodle was like a shooting star in the night sky. He was rare and special. Doodle was a unique person that was different and didn’t fit in. Doodle was born sick and no one thought he would live, but he did end up living and his brother spent much of his time helping Doodle become stronger and learn to walk. Over time in the story Doodle got stronger, but in the end he eventually died. In “The Scarlet Ibis” James Hurst uses creative symbols such as the color red, the scarlet ibis bird, and the seasons to represent the life of Doodle.
Doodle and Simon have many similarities. They both have heart conditions and have to adjust to their lives but that is really the only similarity. In the movie Simon Birch by Mark Steve Johnson, the character Simon never has a completely normal life because of his disability. In the book “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Doodle never came close to normal because of his heart condition. Doodle and Simon have similarities but are different in many ways.
Who is the dynamic character in “The Scarlet Ibis?” To answer this question, one must first know what a dynamic character is or means. A dynamic character is one who changes by the end of the story. In “The Scarlet Ibis” the narrator is the one who is the dynamic character. How? First of all, the reason why the narrator is dynamic is he feels atrocious of how he has treated Doodle, his brother. The second reason is the narrator comprehends he should have appreciated his brother more. The last reason is the narrator feels fallacious of what he has done to Doodle; which has possibly led to Doodle’s death.
According to Google, symbolism in literature is defined as the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. Symbolism can be seen throughout media and in many pieces of literature including To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In the book, the symbol of the mockingbird represents the character Boo Radley, and how his story teaches people to not always believe what others have to say about someone without being able to prove it true for themselves.
In “The Scarlet Ibis” the positivity of pride prevails in the characters. I think that judgement is influenced by pride, and it can change the whole outcome of a situation. Pride that has wonderful consequences, counts more than pride that ends
The narrator reflects,”I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two things life and death,”(Hurst 3).This quote showed that at first the narrator thought pride was good but later he became self centered and ashamed of his disabled brother and pushed him far beyond his limit.The short story called The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst is a drama where the narrator, or older brother, wishes his younger brother wasn’t disabled. Because he is so fueled by pride, the older brother ends up pushing his brother beyond his capabilities to his death. In this story, we will learn how the narrator’s pride led to the tragic death of Doodle.
In conclusion, Brother shows his self-interest in how he treats his younger brother. He treats his younger brother, Doodle, as something to ‘fix’ and he cannot accept his brother as he is. When Doodle finally learns to walk, Brother’s selfish need for a more ‘ideal’ little brother is not satisfied for long. Soon he demands a little brother who can run, jump, climb, swim, swing on vines, and row a boat. When he gives Doodle lessons for these activities, he does not do so for concern about Doodle wanting to be able to do them, but because he wants Doodle to be able to be a ‘normal’ brother.
As a result of the collective knowledge shared by people then and his physical conditions, Doodle’s father had expected for him to decease in a short period of time and made the decision to arrange a coffin for him. “They did not know that I did it for myself…” (pg. 6) showed the consistent motif throughout the story was the reason behind Brother’s actions – his pride and his need for his younger brother to fit society’s expectations. In The Scarlet Ibis, Brother`s thoughts often revolved around one major objective; to make Doodle normal. As Brother narrates the story he recalls himself repeatedly pushing Doodle away from his comfort zone because Brother had wanted to make sure that Doodle would be seen as normal. When Brother had convinced Doodle that learning how to walk was important, Doodle and he would frequently go to practice. Although Brother had told Doodle multiple times that walking was an important task that he must learn how to do for himself, the underlying reason why he pressured Doodle to integrate into the norm was that he wouldn’t have to deal with the embarrassment of having a crippled brother. When Brother had finally been successful in teaching his sibling to walk, all he could think about was that his sole purpose that drove him to teach Doodle to walk; his
In the story "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst, an important theme is pride. Pride is what keeps the story going. The theme is expressed in the story in many ways. An example is when the narrator teaches Doodle to walk and shows the family. The narrator is so proud of what he did that he wanted to continue to make Doodle "more of a person." I think that this pride that the narrator has can cause readers to get angry. It was that pride that caused Doodle to die in the end. The narrator lost his pride when Doodle could not succeed and left him. Doodle died because the narrator ran away and did not help him. If he didn't let his pride get to him then Doodle wouldn't have died.
Since the beginning of time, mankind has sheltered their fragile egos, in which is driven by one main attribute, pride. If mankind’s ego is placed in harm's way, their lousy judgment takes over thus causing them to conceive loathsome ideas which their greed feeds upon. When mankind reflects on their dishonorable actions, a wave of regret and disappointment washes over them. This wave of resentment is what Doodle’s brother, the narrator, in the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst, is currently causing him to reflect on his past actions towards Doodle. As the narrator recalls how his pride was more important than his relationship with Doodle, the reader will realize the theme of this short story, do not let pride cloud your judgment. Hurst illustrates the theme through the usage of internal conflict, man vs man conflict, and
In James Hurst's short story “The Scarlet Ibis” the author describes the life of Doodle and the relationship he shares with his brother. During the story he has some happy moments with his brother, but his brother is also very selfish. Doodle pushes himself to his limits to try to please his brother. Doodle’s brother lets his pride get the best of him and forgets about the wellbeing and feelings of Doodle. (Summary) Throughout the entire story the central message is, Pride can lead people to do terrible as well as wonderful things.(thesis)
Pride is a very relevant issue in almost everyone's lives. Only when a person is forced to face his pride can he begin to overcome it. Through the similar themes of her short stories, Flannery O'Connor attempts to make her characters realize their pride and overcome it.
Humans are never perfect, and their emotions often conflict with their logic. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, the narrator receives a physically disabled brother, Doodle, thus trains Doodle physically so that he could live a normal life. Throughout the story, the narrator’s actions and thoughts reveals his true personalities to the audience as he slowly narrates the story of himself and his scarlet ibis, Doodle, whose existence he dreaded. In the story written by James Hurst, pride, love, and cruelty, these conflicting character traits all exists in Doodle’s brother. And the most severe of all, pride.
James Hurst is the author of the heart breaking short story entitled “The Scarlet Ibis”. “The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story about two brothers; one brother is healthy, while the other is physically handicapped. The short story is centered on the idea that the older, healthier brother’s selfishness and pride ultimately led to the death of his younger brother, Doodle. Numerous quotes throughout the story demonstrate Hurst’s use of symbolism and foreshadowing to portray and predict Doodle’s untimely and heartbreaking death.
Many stories throughout our culture present many difficulties and challenges where characters are forced to go through many trials to develop their personalities. Writers create extremely intricate lives for the characters in which they have to fight through either their own personal difficulties or problems presented by the world. The readers learn very intimate and secretive details about these characters until they feel as if they know them personally. Readers of the story find very specific details about the story and make many very clever connections between the strangest of things in the story but they make perfect sense. In the story, The Scarlet Ibis, many extremely surprising facts about the story were linked in a very macabre way and they were rather interesting. Many of these connections have been dissected and discussed very thoroughly, but many more challenges and connections can still be found.