...“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is about William Armstrong, also known as Doodle, who had a physical and mental condition. When he was born William’s brother was six years old, and when William died his brother was thirteen. The story is called “The Scarlet Ibis” because the family saw a bird dying in their backyard which was far away from its native land, and William died away from his home. Mr. Hurst was born in North Carolina at a farm by the sea. He studied singing and in Italy and he became a banker. During his thirty four years as a banker he also published a few short stories including “The Scarlet Ibis”. I personally did not like how the story went but I do like how Mr. Hurst wrote it. I also like how he referred the scarlet ibis...
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...The Scarlet Ibis Have you ever let your pride overcome who you are? Pride allows us to enhance the way we act and look. However, it can cause us to look down upon others when things don’t turn out the way we want it. For instance, “ The Scarlet Ibis” shows how pride can motivate us to strive for achievements and still be the source of harm towards ourselves and our loved ones. The story is told through the brother’s eyes in which he continuously persists his brother, Doodle, into doing “normal kid things,” despite Doodle’s physical limitations. “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst is a story that revolves around pride. To begin with, Doodle’s brother wanted to teach Doodle how to live like a “normal boy.” Doodle’s brother was resolute as he...
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...The Scarlet Ibis by: James Hurst In “The Scarlet Ibis”, the older brother is coaching his younger brother, who has physical disabilities, on how to fit in, mostly for his own sake. The story brings up all sorts of questions such as, why is it that we sometimes fear people who are different? Why do many people think it's so important to fit in? If someone doesn't mind being different, why do we often still pressure them to conform? This story shows that pushing others too hard to fit in can end in tragedy. Most people think living life a certain way is the most important thing. When they see someone acting a strange way or a way that is different, they react negatively. They get confused because they aren’t used to people not caring about how...
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...“Pride is the mother of arrogance” (Toba Beta). Pride is a feeling that everyone has felt in their lifetime, whether it be because they finally solved a question in math or because they finally graduated from college. That’s pride in it’s best form, but then there’s also the bad kind of pride, the kind mentioned in the quote above, that leads to arrogance and can sometimes be harmful. The tale The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst is a great example of how pride can be harmful. The Scarlet Ibis revolves around two brothers, Doodle (who is disabled), and his older brother, the narrator. In the story, the narrator tries to teach Doodle to do things like an abled person. He succeeded with teaching Doodle to walk, so then his ego/pride starts growing...
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...“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst places a large focus on humanity and the humane treatment of others. In this short story, the narrator mistreats his younger brother in order to make him more like normal boys who can play, run, and swim. However, this backfires as his younger brother Doodle dies from overexertion because the narrator pushes him past his limits. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, the absence of humanity is a large component and is portrayed in the way Doodle is treated by the narrator. In this story, the narrator’s great pride and lack of humanity is what causes Doodle’s death. Because he is so focused on making Doodle like the other children, the narrator forgets that Doodle has feelings and shortcomings. The narrator is “embarrassed...
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...fallen Scarlet Ibis from the heresy of rain.” In James Hurst’s short story; “The Scarlet Ibis”, two brothers create a good relationship over a short amount of time. There are three main concepts within the short story. Pride, love and death. Pride; there’s not much to say. Brother ends up doing anything to Doodle for his own pride. Brother has done actions for his own pride instead of doing it for Doodle’s well-being. When Brother and Doodle showed Mama, Daddy and aunt Nicey that Doodle can walk brother thought, “They did not know that I did it for myself, that pride.” When Brother taught Doodle how to walk he did it for his own pride. Little did Doodle know Brother wasn’t...
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...Jessica Lange, a famous actress once beautifully stated, “Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life altering lessons.” Acceptance and tolerance mean appreciating the differences in people and respecting people for who they are. When one is tolerant, they understand and reverence others that have a different gender, ethics, feelings, and behaviors than them. In the stories “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst, and “Raymond’s Run” written by Toni Cade Bambara, the authors depicted the relationships with disabled siblings. These relationships could have a significant impact on these siblings’ life later on. Notwithstanding bearing the fact that Doodle’s brother and Squeaky previously displayed infinitesimal tolerance towards their younger siblings’ incapacity, the differences that it unfold in their stages of tolerance as the stories continue are relatively remarkable. Initially, a similarity relating to tolerance found in “The Scarlet Ibis” and “Raymond’s Run” is how both Squeaky and Brother both take care their disabled sibling. In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis,” Doodle was the younger brother who was born with physical disabilities. The narrator, who was known as Brother in the story supervises Doodle because he was determined to make Doodle to become his ideal brother. Specifically on paragraph 10 Brother remarked, “ 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.” This...
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...Argumentative Essay-Scarlet “Pride is a wonderful terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death” James Hurst wrote this quote in his short story The Scarlet Ibis. In other words, James Hurst is saying, Pride can be both good and bad depending on how you look at it. This quote sums up the effects of pride on human life, both the good and bad. Pride enables a person to accomplish tasks. Pride assists one in achieving goals. Also, pride motivates a person to grow confidence. Acknowledging the other view of ways pride could be an unattractive quality to possess. Too much pride can damage other’s and one’s self. Referring to a quote from page 172 in “The Scarlet Ibis” states “don’t hurt me brother” he warned “oh shut up...
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...The Scarlet Ibis," is a short story written by James Hurst. This story is about the life of a young boy named Doodle and his older brother, the Narrator. In the story, Doodle is crippled for life. As Doodle grows older his older brother's pride leads him to teach Doodle how to walk. James Hurst uses foreshadowing and conflict to show Doodle's empathy and loyalty. The use of foreshadowing shows how he is empathetic because he can feel empathy for something like the ibis. For example, when the family watches the scarlet ibis die, Doodle says, "I'm going to bury it." This shows that Doodle is caring enough to care for an animal he has no relation to in the story. This is because Doodle could reflect the scarlet ibis, and what was happening to the ibis upon himself. In addition, Doodle's mother would not allow him to even touch the bird, yet Doodle disobeys and buries the scarlet ibis. This reveals that his empathy for the ibis was so grand that he disobeyed his mother. The reason why is that Doodle treated...
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...John Ruskin, the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, once said, “It’s better to lose your pride to the one you love, than to lose the one you love for pride”. The meaning of this quote is that one shouldn’t have to lose the ones they love because they also want pride, and that one should rather lose their pride to the one they love. Many authors write about the intriguing topic of conflicts between pride and love. For example, in the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the protagonists, Lennie and George, clearly show that pride should not always get in the way of love. This is exhibited at the time of Lennie’s demise. George tries to forgives himself, and reminds himself that killing Lennie was the right thing to do. It is manifested clearly in this allegory, that family is...
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...Literary Analysis: “The Scarlet Ibis” Can pride affect others in a bad way? The topic of the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the narrator helps his brother Doodle(William Armstrong) to accomplish things no one thought was possible because of his bad heart. But in the end he pressured his brother too much and Doodle dies, all because he wanted pride from it. The theme adolescents that pride can both be a good and a bad thing, which you can see through the plot of the story. The narrator reflects on his actions and realizes how selfish he was towards Doodle. In one line it shows that the narrator is planning on teaching doodle more but he saw it as his own victory instead of Doodles victory, “Once I had succeeded in teaching Doodle...
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...Excessive pride causes devastating ruin and can be deeply harmful, not only to the person in which pride in habits, but also to those surrounding them. Through the elder brother’s pride and shame of having an invalid brother, he pushes Doodle to his breaking point, and therefore is a contributor to Doodle’s tragic death though that is not his blunt goal to murder his own brother. This is very evident in James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis”. The elder brother of any family has the highest rank among the siblings and holds the most responsibility for the younger children. The elder brother in “The Scarlet Ibis” is no exception. His “pride, whose slave [he] was, spoke to [him], louder than all [his family’s] voices” (2) and the brother...
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...The Scarlet Ibis I. “The Scarlet Ibis” is a story about the results of pride. A. The narrator in “The Scarlet Ibis” says, “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bares two vines, life and death.” B. The narrator is disappointed with his brother which changes when his pride leads him to wonderful and horrible outcomes. II. The narrator expresses his disappointment with his brother Doodle. A. “…from the outset a disappointment. He seemed all head, with a tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man’s.” B. “They named him William Armstrong, which was like tying a big tail on a small kite. Such a name sounds good only on a tombstone.” C. “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having...
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...Critical Essay Assignment “The Most Dangerous Game,” “The Scarlet Ibis,” and “ Blues Ain’t No Mockingbird” all are short stories that possess different messages, characters, setting, and plot. Based on the elements stated previously, the best of the mentioned three is “The Scarlet Ibis.” “The Scarlet Ibis” holds a very important message in the story, which is pride. Pride is linked directly to shame and embarrassment like a scale, where no embarrassment or shame leads to a head held high. In the story, Brother is feeling ashamed due to Doodle’s disability, and at one point he considers killing him with a pillow. However, Brother’s feelings for Doodle changes as he further connects with him when he teaches Doodle how to walk on his fragile...
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...The theme of loyalty and betrayal is analyzed across “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, “My Brother’s Keeper” by Jay Bennet, and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. These stories present a deep dive into brotherhood and human dynamics. Each narrative offers a setting where loyalty strengthens or unravels bonds between one another, leading to a form of betrayal at the end of the narration. Furthermore, the relationship between the two brothers in “The Scarlet Ibis” is characterized by a complexity of loyalty and betrayal. The narrator’s dedication to his little brother Doodle stems from a sense of responsibility, which later reverts into a connection driven by pride throughout the story. At the end of the story, the narrator shares his last thoughts...
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