'Forever' By James Hurst: A Literary Analysis

“Forever” written by Paul Jennings and “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst are two sad stories. Both stories are about mentally and physically disabled children that ends in an unfortunate way. A brother lost in each story leaving behind a grieving family. The stories although similar have multiple differences. One difference is that Brother tried to change who Doodle was. He pushed Doodle really hard, at first to walk and then other things, like learning how to swim. On the other hand, in the story “Forever” Tim accepted Richard for who he was. Although Tim had a different perspective because he was also disabled, so his point of view was different than Brother’s. Brother was normal and a little kid, he just wanted a normal brother to do things fun things with. Another difference between the two stories is that in “Forever” Tim’s death was expected, the
Though their intentions are not the same they both help their brothers. In addition to that in both “The Scarlet Ibis” and “Forever” they both have places where they frequently hang out. In “Forever” Richard hangs out in the loft all of the time, he loves it. Then in “The Scarlet Ibis” both Brother and Doodle hang out at the Old Woman Swamp. Which is where brother teaches Doodle how to do a lot of things like walk and swim. One last similarity is that in both stories a brother dies, leaving the other brother sad and lost. In “The Scarlet Ibis” Doodle dies during a horrible storm after a long day of Brother pushing his limits. Doodle died from his heart exploding. In “Forever” Tim dies from putting too much strain on his heart. His heart is strained because he refused to give up looking for his brother, and because of this Richard is alive. Tim did die but he died because he saved a life, it was a sacrifice he was willing to