“Pride will cost you everything, but leave you with nothing.” The short story, The Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst, is about a boy with a little brother that is disabled. He does all he can to make him normal, but ends up pushing him to far and he ends up dying. In The Scarlet Ibis, James Hurst shows pride can be deadly through figurative language and symbolism.
The way Hurst uses figurative language proves that pride can be deadly. When Doodle’s brother teaches him how to walk, the family is so happy they are crying of joy. They are thanking the boy for helping his little brother, but he does not cry with joy because of guilt. He helps Doodle for himself, “that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to