Every Essay Ive written in High School (8-10; continuing on the years)

Sep 27th, 2022- Scarlet Ibis: Pride

Pride in Doodle

The narrator of "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst has a brother named Doodle he used to be ashamed of because Doodle was born prematurely. He could not walk or even do the simplest tasks. The narrator felt humiliated to have a brother that could not do those tasks, such as getting dressed or even getting out of bed. The narrator in the story wrote to readers, "It was bad enough having an invalid as a brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable." (Hurst 179). The narrator does not like that Doodle is immobile and believes that Doodle is invalid as he cannot walk or move much on his own. He thought the fact of Doodle not being there very much was unbearable. The narrator implies that he was not delighted when he figured out he could not walk, move, or even do simple things on his lonesome. Cruelty was reborn while teaching Doodle how to walk, as shown when the narrator informs readers, "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." (Hurst 122). The narrator has cruelty in his body formed by Doodle's love for the narrator and his love for Doodle. Sometimes, they have fun together, playing fun games with one another, and sometimes he is mean to Doodle because he might not want to play games or walk down to Old Woman Swamp with Doodle. While the narrator teaches Doodle to walk, he speaks to Doodle like an instructor who would talk to a student. He then tells Doodle when he starts to whine, "'Shut up. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to teach you to walk.' I heaved him up again, and again he collapsed" (Hurst 161). The narrator keeps trying to get Doodle to walk, with failure each time. Soon enough, Doodle gains simple walking skills. His family is then proud of him, but they do not know that the narrator did it for his selfish benefits and not for Doodle. After all the events in those few months, the narrator still had significant, terrible pride in Doodle. He thought his pride for Doodle was wonderful because Doodle had heavily impacted his life. He took a lot of the attention from the narrator's parents, leaving the narrator to be annoyed by Doodle. He was optimistic about his pride for Doodle, but he still did not like Doodle. The narrator states pride is significant sometimes, but some things do not deserve the honor we give them the chance to have. In conclusion, pride is not always the most reasonable trait to give certain things or people we give pride to. Now, pride is an honorable trait, but some of the people who we give pride, do not deserve it. It is not necessary in some cases, and sometimes it is.

Works Cited

Hurst, James. "The Scarlet Ibis." Elements of Literature - Third Course, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2007, pp. 168-183.