The Scarlet Ibis
Ayana smith
Summary
His little brother doodle is handicap and his pride is getting the best of him so he feels obligated to help him overcome all of his challenges. Embarrassed with having to drag doodle around in a go-kart so he decides hes going to help him learn to walk . Through all of there hard work they accomplish of their goal of him being able to walk, now he's doing other things the doctors said he would never be able to do. They are running through the rain one day trying to make it home but doodle falls behind , turning back to look for his little brother he finds him curled under a tree because his heart gave out . There's nothing else he can do but hold him.
Theme
The theme of this story is pride . They say having too much pride will kill you and that's exactly what happened. He was so embarrassed of his brother that he pushed him and pushed him until he finally pushed him past his limits. He couldn't put his pride aside to see that he was killing his little brother.
Character development
Doodle : in the beginning even he didn't believe in himself. He was content with who he was and how he had to live. Until his brother pushed him he never knew he was capable of doing anything. He started to believe in himself , all the things they said he couldn't do he was doing.
Brother: He resented doodle for not being normal . He hated having to drag his little disabled brother everywhere. No one else seemed to believe in doodle but he knew doodle could walk if someone just pushed him. Once he took him under his wing he started to care for doodle . When doodle died under that tree it was like a piece of him died too.
Mom: She loved her doodle but she knew he was going to die , they all knew. Once doodle started walking she started to think maybe doodle had a chance of living longer than the doctors predicted , all he needed was a little motivation.
Author biography
James Hurst was born January 1, 1922 in Jacksonville North Carolina. James went to Booker T. High School which is located in Atlanta but went back to North Carolina for collage to study chemical engineering. He also attended Julliard to follow his dream of becoming an opera singer but soon gave up the dream and became a banker. James wrote stories and plays during his free time one of which was The scarlet Ibis.
Quote
"I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death." (Hurst, page 3)