In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Doodle is a very pitiful character. Doodle first shows that he is pitiful when he attempts to crawl. Doodle would first “push himself up, turning first red, then a soft purple, and [would] finally collapse back onto the bed like an old worn-out doll.” Doodle’s persevering mentality in his attempt to crawl shows his passion and effort, but also evokes sympathy from the reader. Doodle is struggling to crawl at age 2, an age at which most children are already running around. Later in the story, Doodle shows pitifulness when he is threatened by his older brother into touching his own coffin. Since Doodle was born handicapped, his father, who did not expect him to survive infancy, had a coffin built for him.