Scarlet Ibis Pride Quotes

674 Words3 Pages
Out of the Seven Deadly Sins, pride is the most serious and lethal. In James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis”, the narrator, Brother, looks back in time at when his own pride killed his brother, Doodle. Brother’s pride makes him train the crippled Doodle to walk, run, swim and engage in other physical activities he’s not supposed to do. However, one stormy night in the summer of 1918, Brother and Doodle dash back home, but Doodle soon falls back. Doodle, who cannot function without Brother, is later found lifeless and bleeding from the mouth. In James Hurst’s “The Scarlet Ibis”, Hurst shows how pride can control people through Brother’s hubris in his character and his relationship with Doodle. While pride can sometimes be beneficial, it is ultimately immoral and can shatter lives. Brother’s pride pushes him into training Doodle to walk, refusing to accept Doodle’s differences, and oblivious of the consequences. When Doodle shows his family that Brother taught him how to walk, Brother cries, because “pride, whose slave [Brother] was, spoke louder to [him] than…show more content…
After leaving Doodle behind, Brother goes back to find Doodle, but Doodle is found “bleeding from the mouth, and his neck and front of his shirt [was] stained a brilliant red” (31). Doodle ultimately died because Brother’s pride pushed Doodle too far. Brother continued to ignore the consequences of his actions until it was too late. Looking back at Doodle’s death, Brother realizes “pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death” (29). Brother describes pride as a virtuous emotion that can easily be abused and lead to depravity. Not knowing this prior to Doodle’s demise, Brother goes too far with pride and eventually kills Doodle with it. Doodle’s death shows how pride can destroy people, and triggers Brother’s realization of how malicious pride really
Show More
Related

  • Summary Of There Will Come Soft Rains By Ray Bradbury

    387 Words  | 2 Pages

    The authors, Bradbury and Hurst create similar complex characters in disparate ways. These characters help shape the depth of the themes, nature versus man and man vs man, in both texts. In There will come soft rains, Bradbury uses personification and imagery to create an intricate character in the absence of humans. The house is a very prominent character in the story despite being an inanimate object. The house’s goal is to take care of the family that once lived in it, but it cannot complete that

    Read More

More about Scarlet Ibis Pride Quotes

Open Document