The_Scarlet_Ibis

Pride is a double-edged sword. It can make the weakest man the strongest and the strongest the weakest. The Scarlet Ibis is a short story about a boy named Doodle and his brother. The main character’s brother has no superb physical or mental features so Brother plans to change that. Brother’s addiction to pride victimizes Doodle. While watching Doodle walk, Brother takes that time to reflect about himself, “...all of us must have something or someone to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine” (Hurst 2). Brother took Doodle’s first moment of people being proud of him and managed to make it about him. Brother used Doodle to make himself feel better about his self-image. To get Doodle ready for school Brother made a program to ‘help Doodle’ “I prepared a terrific development program for him” (Hurst 2). Brother makes a feel better list for Doodle to complete. Doodle trusts Brother so much that he does whatever Brother says. While teaching Doodle to do various physical tasks Doodle stops trying and Brother wants to know if Doodle has truly given up, “Do you want to be different'” (Hurst 3). Doodle, pushed to the limit, does not want to continue with the tasks, but Brother’s pride does not allow him to quit or rest. Brother’s obsession with pride borders abuse. Brother has a self-image and pride obsession. Brother starts teaching Doodle how to walk, when Doodle tries to explain to Brother that he cannot, “I can’t walk brother [mama, the doctor –everybody says I can’t]” (Hurst 2). Brother forces Doodle to overcome his physical disabilities, without even asking Doodle if that was what he wanted. Doodle’s health problems disallowed him to do many physical tasks, which made Brother resent him. People were shocked that Doodle survived for as long as he did, “Everybody thought [Doodle] was going to die” (Hurst 1). Instead of caring for Doodle, Brother plotted out ways he was going to kill him. While watching Doodle walk, Brother cries and no one knows why, “They didn’t know I did it for myself” (Hurst 2). Brother’s selfish ways come back to weigh heavily on him. Doodle’s perception is that his brother is helping him out of the kindness of his heart. Brother will not let anything stand in between him and conquering Doodle’s health issues. Brother’s pride problem affects Doodle’s life immensely. Pride and abuse are two very important concepts in this story because Doodle struggles to overcome his brother’s issue with pride and physical abuse. Coming home to a disabled brother who is very caring makes it difficult to complain about him and to abuse him without feeling devious.