What the.....?

"The Scarlet Ibis" : Doodle's Brother, Was he Good or Bad for Doodle?

The scarlet ibis' are bleeding, beautiful birds that burn a brighter bloody red than Doodle in death. Born weak and red, all head and bones, Doodle was never thought hopefully of. More than once he proved that he was stronger than expected, with the help of his brother of course. Doodle's brother was good for him.

His brother, who was also the narrator, taught Doodle how to walk. Encouraged by the success of teaching Doodle how to walk, the Brother decided to teach Doodle how to run, climb vines, swim, and even fight to prepare Doodle for school. However, almost a year after the plan was made, Doodle was far from accomplishing the goals by the nearing deadline. Although, for kids in Doodle's situation, he was doing better than them and making great progress. Not a lot of time was given to them and many obstacles occurred. Despite the setbacks, Doodle learned theses skills the best he could.

Despite his selfish intentions, the narrator did his best to make Doodle happy. Consider that the brother could have simply ignored his handicapped brother and never paid any attention to him, even though his parents required him to take Doodle along. He could have just dragged the handicapped boy around, never really caring about him. He also could've never shown Doodle his favorite place to be. In fact, the narrator pushes Doodle to fulfill his expectations for a normal brother, even though his motivation might be shame, he still puts his heart into teaching Doodle to walk. It is through this process that Doodle has his most wonderful experiences. When he is with the brother, Doodle is filled with wonder, love and admiration for his big brother. He loves it when his brother encourages him to do his best.

Some may argue that when Doodle shows that he can't perform the skills his brother was teaching to the narrator's liking, the narrator abandons Doodle to the rain storm and eventually, he dies in the storm. Before he knew Doodle was dead though, the narrator felt bad about leaving Doodle and waits for him. When Doodle didn't show, the narrator goes and looks for him and finds him dead. Through the rest the storm, the brother stays with him. The brother will always remember the time he spent with Doodle. All the teaching that the brother did for the weak boy, the fun times, the sad time, even the all the time he spent resenting Doodle for how he was born. Even still, the brother's regret tinged all the happy memories he had with his brother.

All families have their problems, some more than others, and the brother did his best to be a good brother to Doodle, even for selfish reasons. He taught Doodle many skills that normal boys know. Doodle was almost always happy when he was with his brother. In the end though, in the storm, Doodle only had his brother for the beginning of the storm and after death. Yes, the narrator could've been better, but no one is perfect.