How Does Pride Effect The Narrator's Relationship With Doodle

He is prideful because he always put his needs before everyone else. For example, he would push Doodle around carelessly to "discourage his coming." Not caring for Doodle's safety shows how he wanted to make Doodle feel sorry. The narrator was always annoyed because he had to take Doodle everywhere. Additionally, when Doodle was five, the narrator said, "I was embarrassed," because

Doodle’s brother taught him these things because he was tired of having a brother who couldn’t do anything. So he taught him, and he pushed Doodle harder and harder so that he didn’t have to deal with him. Showing his family that Doodle could walk, and Doodle’s brother realized what he could accomplish. Doodle’s brother continued to push him until one day, he pushed too hard. He knew a storm was coming, but hesitated at returning home because of Doodle’s failed attempts of running and walking. The brother recognized that a, “streak of cruelty within me awakened. I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind” (Hurst 117). This revealed the side of pride that resulted in death. That too much pride will fill you up, and you will keep continuing it until it

“Everyone must have something to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine.” Some may see that in this story, pride was a destructive force, but I see pride as the motivation for brothers actions to help Doodle walk. Doodle was born crippled and very weak. The narrator encouraged and helped Doodle walk, and sometimes he used tough-love when teaching him, be he benefited from it. I believe that brother was innocent because if you are proud of something that you worked so hard on, why would you kill it?

In “The Scarlet Ibis”, Hurst demonstrates through indirect characterization the narrator’s selfishness, that being prideful can cause harm for the ones close. Doodle’s brother always wanted someone to play with, but when he found out about his “invalid” disabled brother he was disgusted, disrespectful, and selfish. He had thought of helping his brother as a burden, and his pride was too high too accept the fact. So Doodle’s brother set out to teach Doodle how to walk, only because “[he] did it for [himself]: that pride, whose slave [he] was, spoke to [him] louder than all [the family], and that Doodle walked only because [he] was ashamed of having a crippled brother.”(10) In this quote we see Doodle’s brother show his selfish side when he describes how he helped his brother “for [himself].” What he meant was that he only wanted to help because of his pride.

The author indicates in this quote that Brother was already being controlled by pride, and really only helped his brother for his own pride. Achieving the almost impossible caused Brother’s pride to grow. This was made apparent when it was stated that, “Once I had succeeded in teaching Doodle to walk, I began to believe in my own infallibility, and I prepared a terrific development program for him, unknown to Mama and Daddy, of course. I would teach him to run, to swim, to climb trees, and to fight. He, too, now believed in my infallibility, so we set the deadline for these accomplishments less than a year away…”

James says,” I did not know that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death. Through The Scarlet Ibis, the brother stresses the two versions of pride. Pride pushes us to overcome goals that we have set for ourselves, but can also be very destructive when we put together other pieces of the theme puzzle even though the narrator uses his pride to push Doodle so much to his early death. Later on the narrator says,” I should have already admitted defeat but my pride wouldn't let me.” This is a bad moment for the narrator/brother.

One way the theme, it’s not good to let pride influence decisions and actions, is portrayed, is through flashbacks. Doodle got sick after the brother worked him so hard. “I should have already admitted defeat, but my pride wouldn’t let me.” The older brother thought. -Hurst 4. In this flashback, the brother knew that he was probably making a mistake at the time, but he chose to push Doodle anyway. He let his

At first his brother taught him off of pride, then he changed to teach him for love, but it came back to pride. The narrator’s actions showed that pride can be taken over, but it will eventually come back. The narrator was teaching Doodle to walk because he was embarrased that he couldn’t walk. “ When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who

Through the narrator’s interactions with Doodle, the author develops the theme of this story, which is that pride can make people do horrible things. The theme first appears when Doodle is born. The narrator

Correspondingly, “But all of us must have something or someone to be proud of, and Doodle has become mine. I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” The narrator’s metaphor of the “seed that bears two vines, life and death” compares his pride with a plant that can grow to be either a good or bad thing. This shows how he doesn't know how his pride will affect his brother. Notably in the quote, “I should have already admitted defeat, but my pride wouldn't let me.

The narrator always had strong opinions about Doodle. Ever since the day Doodle was born, the narrator’s pride was much too high for having him as a brother, saying, “he was born when I was six and was, from the outset, a disappointment.” Not even giving his brother a chance to grow up and prove himself. Since the narrator did not know how to handle having a

In “The Scarlet Ibis,” James Hurst, shows internal conflict in the narrator, demonstrating the theme that one’s pride for their family can corrupt them internally. The narrator never liked Doodle in the first place, nonetheless he begins to teach him, this made the narrator prideful of Doodle. In the middle of the story, “[he realized] that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.” (7). This shows that the narrator has already realized that he is being affected by pride.

The narrator regrets how he pushed Doodle far beyond his limits. Now that the Brother is older, he knows how pride can affect him. “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.”(4) When the Brother got Doodle to stand, he was confident in Doodle to accomplish any physical movement. So he expected more and more out of Doodle. But he didn’t know the pain and the danger of trying to exceed the limit of one’s body. Now, after all the years have passed by, the narrator realize that his love for Doodle. “But sometimes (like right now), as I sit in the cool, green-draped parlor, the grindstone begins to turn, and time with all its changes is ground away--and I remember Doodle.”(1) The years have taken away the cruelty and selfishness in the Brother’s early year and he was sorry for how he forced and threatened Doodle. The narrator looks over the cruel moments he had with Doodle and blames Doodle’s death on himself. “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all the other voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.”(5) The voice here is very regretful of his sins, and wants to fix what he had already

After training upon training and with sweat and tears when Brother finally got Doodle to walk and shouted “Yes, yes” (L 158); and when the grass felt soft beneath the both of them and the swamp felt sweet and the whole world was happy (L 158-159) there was a special moment created that both Doodle and Brother shared. The feeling described here is one that is happy and satisfactory for both Brother and Doodle as Pride and self belief was created and shared, due to the fact that after many attempts Doodle could stand. This act symbolically represented Doodles fight and the support each brother gave to each other during difficult and hard times. The loving bond that is created between Brother and Doodle through these experiences was so opposite from what their relationship was at the start of the story and shows the paradoxical and contradictory way of

Pride can be positive and can help people overcome the difficult struggles they are going through, and can also lead to bonding or getting closer. In this story, the narrator has a disabled brother whos parents and doctor both don’t believe he is able to learn to walk. The narrator doesn’t think of Doodle as a brother, but as someone who is disabled and tries to fix him by helping him learn to walk. One piece of evidence that shows that pride is positive in the story, is when the narrator shows how he cares about Doodle and wants him to get better by helping him learn how to walk. After he got to know Doodle a little bit more he felt more connected and believed that he would learn to walk and put in the effort to help him learn. “I'm going to teach you to walk, Doodle.’ I said. ‘I can't walk brother,’ He said. ‘Who says so?’ I demanded. ‘Mama, the doctor--everybody.’ ‘Oh you can walk”(Hurst 3). This quote shows how pride can lead to helping someone get through something they are struggling with, because it says “I’m going to teach you to walk, Doodle.” he’s very confident in the way he asserts his ability to teach Doodle to walk he does this instead of saying “I am going to try” or asking it as a question “Would you like me to?” These are both less confident ways he could go about asking. Then another part of the quote that stood out was when the author wrote the narrator saying “ ‘Oh you can walk’ ” to his brother, Doodle. He’s dismissing his mother and the doctor who are both older and more knowledgeable than him. This elaborates on the fact that the narrator shows a tremendous amount of pride and arrogance throughout the story. This shows that the narrator had fueled Doodle’s desire to succeed for his brother because the narrator pushed him to be normal, thus Doodle being able to walk. Before everyone told Doodle he could not walk so Doodle did not believe in himself, until his brother pushed him to