"The Scarlet Ibis," by James Hurst, was first published in the July 1960 issue of the Atlantic Monthly magazine. The story focuses on the troubled relationship between two young boys: the narrator and his mentally and physically disabled brother, Doodle. It explores the conflicts between love and pride and draws attention to the effects of familial and societal expectations on those who are handicapped. The perspective of Brothers pride becomes a negative and positive in his life.
Embarrassment is part of negative pride for Brother. For example, He thinks he can not be proud of himself if Doodle is disabled. He has the idea that physical disabilities are something to be ashamed of, and that a disabled person reflects shame on family members. Brother started teaching Doodle how to walk by his own sake; not because of he cared about Doodles feeling. This truth made it hard for him to savor any progress doodle made and only want more from him. In addition, Doodle ended up pushing himself too much and dying while trying to chase after his brother. The fact that his brother left him just made his hope drying. He could never live up to his brothers standards and died trying. Brother's obsession with turning Doodle into the "ideal" Brother goes too far, his pride pushes Doodle to his early death.
The older brother helped Doodle learn things, and that is a positive pride of brother. For example, Brother was the only one who made Doodle could walk when no one else could not.Even though his desire stemmed from embarrassment, he still had the faith and perseverance to help doodle believe in himself. Doodle would have never tried hard if it not been for his brothers encouragement. In addition, when Doodle walked to the dinner table the family was in tears.The joy they had stemmed from a new belief that they were not just waiting for Doodle to die but to live a full life.It was in that moment that Doodle became a brother rather than an invalid. If Brother had not been afraid of embarrassment at school doodle would have never left the wagon.
This story shows the effective of pride as positive and negative ways. Its a sad story between the life of brothers pride and the death of his brother. In addition, love is accepting and compassionate in its nature, but brother's love for Doodle is challenged by two very human failings: pride, and the cruelty that results from it. Moreover, its nice to be proud of people we care about, but pride can be harmful to them if we push them into doing things that are not in their best interest.
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