The Scarlet Ibis Pride Quotes

Max Stiller Mr. Cadra LA H, Pd. 3 23 September 2024 Title Pride, as the old saying goes, comes before a fall- but sometimes it also helps us to achieve what we never thought possible. In James Hurst's short story "The Scarlet Ibis," pride is a driving force in the relationship between two brothers that leads to both triumph and tragedy. The story is about a boy and his disabled brother, Doodle. It explores their relationship and how his brother (and his pride) influence Doodle's life, development, and death. The theme and message of the story is that pride and ego can have positive and negative consequences for oneself and others. For instance, a positive effect of pride in “The Scarlet Ibis” is Brother helping Doodle learn to walk. He tells
Brother’s pride wouldn’t let him stop pushing Doodle far past his limits, to the point where he was experiencing significant effects. This is very evidently a quite negative impact of pride in the story, but not only that, Doodle doesn’t even seem to have any significant positive effects from the regimen. Despite Doodle’s extreme effort, Brother tells us that he failed “and we both knew it” (Hurst 9). Because of this, Brother’s pride sets in motion what he calls “that streak of cruelty within me” (Hurst 9). As he and Doodle are trying to escape a storm, Brother leaves him behind and begins to run as fast as he can. Doodle cries out for his brother not to leave him, but Brother ignores him and runs until he can’t hear Doodle’s voice anymore. He returns after tiring out, but Brother finds Doodle dead under a tree. His brother’s pride pretty much directly killed Doodle. This is the most extreme case of pride having very negative consequences in “The Scarlet Ibis.” Along with pushing Doodle far past his limits and burdening him with extreme stress, his brother’s pride also literally killed