The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst: Character Analysis

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The relationship between two brothers is one like no other, but even brothers fight sometimes. The Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst, is an amazing story about two young boys who live out in the country. Since birth, William Armstrong, or Doodle, isn’t expected to do or become much of anything. They all thought he’d die within the first year of his life, and even had a coffin ready for when he did. Despite these odds, Doodle pulled through and learned how to crawl, talk, and with the help of Brother, walk. But was Brother’s heart always in the right place? He was selfish, like any other kid his age, but also determined, just like Doodle, who was also fragile. Brother goes through a wide range of emotions throughout the story, and many seem to be new …show more content…
Still, like any pair of siblings, you see how mean Brother could be to Doodle, which even the narrator, Brother, often describes. In one of the passages he says, “there is within me a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to Doodle” he then goes on to explain how he’d made Doodle touch his own coffin which they still kept in the barn. He also explains how he was embarrassed by the fact Doodle still couldn’t walk, and sought out to teach him. They succeed and tell their family who is thrilled by the news, and Brother admits to the selfish pride he felt only to later on describe it as, “I did not know then that pride was a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death”. After this, Brother’s ego gets the better of him and he and Doodle develop a plan to have him running, swimming, and just do normal kid things. Despite all their efforts, they fail. Brother is crushed, and in a moment of anger runs off, leaving Doodle behind in the rain. As the narrator explains,
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