Essay On The Scarlet Ibis

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A Slave to Pride
In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis”, by James Hurst, Brother is responsible for Doodle’s death. This is because Brother over-values his pride and feels embarrassment towards Doodle’s physical disability. At the beginning of the story, Brother’s embarrassment motivates him to teach Doodle how walk. When Brother successfully teaches Doodle how to walk, he gains a sense of pride, accomplishment, and infallibility that motivates him to teach Doodle how to perform other physical activities. Thus, this escalates to Brother constantly pushing Doodle past his physical limits until his body begins to collapse and become ill upon his death. This pride that Brother possesses is evident when he states, “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 …show more content…
The parent always ensure that Doodle is safe by displaying tremendous care and compassion for his health and wellness. Mama exhibits concern to Doodle’s health and safety when Doodle attempts to bury the dead scarlet ibis, the text states, “‘Don’t you dare touch him’, Mama warned. ‘There’s no telling what disease he might have had.’” (424). Also, Daddy displays care for Doodle’s well-being when he builds him a go-cart to use as a mode of transportation, as it states in the story, “It was about time that Daddy built him a go-cart, and I had to pull him around” (417). As for Doodle, he is not responsible for his own death because he does not display an urge to advance his physical abilities after he learns how to walk. Rather, Doodle accepts his physical imperfections. Numerous times, Doodle questions Brother’s intentions when engaging in his physical development program, as it communicates in the text, “‘Aw, come on Doodle,’ I urged. ‘You can do it. Do you want to be different from everybody else when you start school?’ ‘Does it make any difference?’”
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