The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst

Have your parents ever told you that you needed to improve at something? It could be a sport, activities, or even how well you do in school. This is a vile thing for parents to do to their children. Sometimes parents just need to back up a few steps and let you be yourself. The same can happen with an older sibling! That is the case in The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst. The narrator of this story has a younger brother called Doodle, who has some health issues. Big brother pushes little brother to be better than he is. In The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle strives for the goals that his brother sets for him for many reasons, which reflects the conflict in the story.

To begin, in The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle strives for these goals because he wants to make his brother proud. Every little sibling wants to feel accepted by their older brothers or sisters, as well as by their parents. When something is expected from you, it is human nature to want to fulfill those expectations. Doodle’s brother says some things that make him want to be a sufficient brother. For example, he writes, “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.” (Page 389). This shows how the narrator’s attitude about helping Doodle creates internal conflict between his desire for pride and his knowledge that it is wrong.

Comparatively, in The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle strives for these ambitions because he wants to fit in. He knows that he is antithetic, and like everyone else in the world, Doodle just wants to feel like he corresponds with the world. Most children start to walk when they are around a year old, but Doodle only...

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...is going to try to improve the disabled one that he has. He was willing to teach him to walk, willing to take him to the swamp every day and collect flowers and also push him around in his little cart for the longest time. Therefore, the goals set for Doodle reflect the conflict that the narrator was having.

In conclusion, in the text of “The Scarlet Ibis” there are multiple reasons why Doodle strives to reach the competitive goals and what ways they reflect the narrators feelings. First, Doodle has a sense to be like his elder brother and pushes himself in that direction. Another goal that he strives to reach is to be self-sufficient, he is tired of being pushed around everywhere and not being able to be left alone. And you can see the reflection of these goals in the narrator because he is the main one to push and help Doodle complete these goals.