Scarlet ibis essay

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Recommended: Selfishness human nature

In the short story The Scarlet ibis, the author James Hurst suggests how choices can affect an individual’s life.
“Glory, built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt.” A quote by William Cowper and his quote suggests that if you achieve glory but achieved it by being or making selfish choices you haven’t achieved true glory. It’s like the character brother from the short story, “Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst. Brother has a little brother named Doodle and Doodle was born with a heart condition and everybody thought he was going to die but didn’t. Initially everyone thinks doodles going to die. Brother doesn’t like doodle and Brother had even made plans to kill doodle. However Doodle lives and brother tries to change Doodle for his own selfish ways because he wants a brother to fit into society. Brother is embarrassed of Doodle. Consequently Brother pushes Doodle to his limit and Doodles heart fails and he dies. This shows that selfish choices can hurt those who care about you.
Initially, everyone one thinks Doodle is going to die but he doesn’t. Brother doesn’t like doodle and doesn’t accept him. Brother doesn’t accept Doodle for who he is because of his disability. Brother wants a brother who is “all there.” In the story brother even said “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not there was unbearable.” Brother wants a real brother who can do things a normal brother can do. Brother is embarrassed of Doodle because of the way he is. Brother made plans to kill Doodle. Brother thought about killing doodle. He said “So I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow.” Brother probably wanted to kill Doodle because if he can’t have proper brother then why hav...

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... he built.
Selfishness can hurt those around you. That’s what happened to Brother. He made selfish choices and in the end it was him who lost his glory and his brother. Initially, Brother disliked Doodle and even thought about killing him. However brother sees Doodle smile and realizes that Doodle is “all there.” Brother tries to change Doodle for his own selfish ways. Consequently, Brother makes one last selfish choice and leaves Doodle behind as a storm rolls in. As a result of his selfish choice Doodle dies. Selfish choices affect the people in your life. In the Scarlet Ibis brother made many selfish choices which ended up killing Doodle. Because of brothers selfishness he destroyed what he built, so making selfish choices can affect people in your life in a negative way. So when thinking about making a selfish choice think about the people it will affect.

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