A story written by James Hurst, called “The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story about a family who can not accept the new son because of his medical condition. The youngest boy, known as William (or Doodle) was treated very unfairly growing up. “He was a burden in many ways” (page 2) said the narrator, (older brother). They built him a coffin when he was born, assuming he would not live. He was very different, when he crawled he crawled backwards which gave him the nickname “Doodlebug”. “Crawling backward made him look like a doodle-bug, so I began to call him Doodle” (page 4) says the narrator. The family did not think he would live so they built him a coffin for when he would pass. Doodle was born with a medical condition that made him different from everyone else which made the narrator ashamed of doodle and was …show more content…
The narrator wanted to have a little brother to play with and with a brother like Doodle, he could not get that. With the narrator and his selfishness, he shown Doodle his coffin and told him he was not supposed to live so they built him a coffin and asked him to touch it out of the narrator’s cruelty. Before Doodle had to go to school, the narrator taught him how to walk so he would not be such an embarrassment to him or his family. Every day the brothers would return to the swamp to teach Doodle how to walk. Doodle also never believed he could walk because his whole life he had people tell him he was not able to walk. The narrator forces Doodle to not give up, insisting he will never learn if he does not try, “Oh yes you can, Doodle,” I said. “All you got to do is try. Now come on,” and I hauled him up once more” (page 8). After many tries, Doodle succeeds and on his sixth birthday the boys would drop hints to everyone that they had a surprise for
Everyone is destined to die one day. Some die earlier than others, and some die later than others. Some may die of diseases and some may die of old age. Yet, in the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hrst, the main character Doodle was destined to have an early death. Doodle had a frail body and many heart problems. Doodle was not to supposed to live for a long time. And his destiny had come true. The skies had opened up and Brother had started to run faster and faster to get home and Doodle could not keep up. Brother had waited and walked back to see that his little Brother was curled up and lifeless. Many readers have blamed Brother for Doodle’s death, yet that is false. Brother, in fact did not do anything major to cause the Doodle’s demise.
In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Doodle is an ‘ugly duckling’
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.
Do you have many things in common with someone? Maybe you even know twins. Well, Doodle and the ibis in James Hurst’s The Scarlet Ibis have many similarities. We learn early in the story that Doodle was expected to die at a young age. When he was born he had many complications. His brother was determined to help him and eventually he had surprised his family and the people who had doubted him. The ibis was very alike Doodle in the way that they had both done things that amazed people, especially Doodle’s family. The ibis was looked as small and frail. Come to find later in the story, the ibis was very strong at heart just as Doodle was.
`The first piece of evidence that can be held against the narrator is the fact that he made Doodle touch his own coffin. This has nothing to do with Doodle’s death but does show how the narrator looked at Doodle and shows how he thought he could treat him. When Doodle was a child, the whole family thought he was going to die because of his weak heart. Just crawling was putting too much stress on his heart. The family was so sure he was going to die that they even made him a coffin. But Doodle didn’t die at that point in time. The family hid the coffin away. The brother decided that he was going to threaten Doodle into touching it. SInce Doodle couldn’t walk, the brother took him up there and threatened to leave
The wagon is used to carry Doodle around when he was unable to walk. “It was about this time that Daddy built him a go-cart and I had to pull him around. At first I just paraded him up and down the piazza,8 but then he started crying to be taken out into the yard, and it ended up by my having to lug him wherever I went” (Hurst 2). The quote is used to help add symbolism to the wagon and have it represent responsibility, burden, and dependency. In the story the wagon is used to push Doodle by Brother, similar to Brother pushing Doodle to his limits of overcoming his handicap. “Within a few months Doodle had learned to walk well and his go-cart was put up in the barn loft (it's still there) beside his little mahogany coffin” (Hurst 5). When the wagon was left in the barn loft that was related to when Brother crossed the line and didn't give Doodle the dependency he needed. The wagon/go-cart shows responsibility, burden, dependency, and Brother pushing doodle too
In conclusion Doodle was not normal, he was weak but he was strong minded and tried to stay positive most of the time. His brother is helping him try to be normal by teaching him how to walk and crawl. Doodle cannot do most of the time normal people do he cannot run or have adventures. He is scared to be alone and doesn’t want his brother to leave his
Although the narrator of the story contributes to Doodle's death, the narrator actually enhanced Doodle's short life helping him live more than he helps him die. Additionally the narrator always knows that Doodle can act more like a normal boy, than as a sick person that was about to die. In "Scarlet Ibis" the narrator is not responsible for Doodles death.
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)
Brother is too engulfed in his selfish desire for a ‘better’ brother that he does not give Doodle a chance to rest. “I made him swim until he turned blue, and row until he couldn’t lift an oar.” This excerpt shows the reader how ruthless Brother is in the training he has set up for Doodle. Brother appears to care more about him being capable of doing these ‘fun’ things than his brother having fun doing them does. “Success lay at the end of the summer like a pot of gold” When Brother says this, he relays how he is greedy for a better brother and will do anything to get what he wants.
When the narrator creates a sense of curiosity within Doodle it causes him to not follow the rules that the doctor gives him in the beginning of the short story which leads to his death as well. When young Doodle still could not walk the narrator states, “I dragged him across the burning cotton field to share with him the only beauty I knew, Old Woman Swamp," when they arrive Doodle cries, “‘It’s so pretty,’ he says. ‘So pretty, pretty, pretty.’" (Page 417-418). This struck Doodle’s curiosity and makes him curious to know more beauty from Old Woman Swamp. When Doodle's older brother teaches him him to walk, “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.” (page 425). In this scene, the narrator reveals that he does not care if Doodle struggles or not which supports Doodle’s curiosity to whether or not his brother cares about him. When Doodle’s brother creates a sense of curiosity it leads him to do things that affects his health, like being left in the rain, which eventually leads to his own death.
...verything” (Hurst 1). The brother only cared about himself and having fun, and did not think about the affect his actions had on Doodle. The brother decides to “teach him [Doodle] to run, to swim, to climb trees, and to fight” (Hurst 3). Readers can begin to infer that the brother’s careless actions will later lead to serious injury or the death of Doodle.
The list of IB traits involve terms that a successful student should learn to adapt throughout their school years. Traits such as caring, risk-taker, open-minded, and balanced relate more to one’s personal life than traits like knowledgeable, thinker, reflective, principled, inquirer, and communicator which are more focused on the academic portion of one’s life. Although not everyone will begin the program with all these traits in their pocket, all students should grow and adapt towards new possibilities and a new personality than originally.
The family relationships with both Doodle and Paul also push them beyond their limits. Doodle is forced to learn to walk through Brother's determination. "Shut up, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to teach you to walk," his brother has said before heaving him up to try again. Brother's pride pushes Doodle to be like the other children, causing them to set unattainable goals of rowing, climbing, and swimming. Doodle is stretched to exhaustion through these exertions.
The day after Doodle died, it was a cold, rainy night. I was curled up in the corner of my room shivering, wishing I could just have one more chance to have my crippled brother back. After a couple hours of sad depression, I slowly stood up and grabbed my old, wrinkled navy blue jacket and walked out of my room. I walked down the creaking stairs and once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I told my mom that I'm going to take a walk to get some fresh air; She took a quick glance at me from the ragged couch and just layed back into the couch, so I walked out the brown wooden door.