The Scarlet Ibis Pride Theme

In James Hurst’s The Scarlet Ibis, the narrator tells about his memories of his past brother, Doodle. Doodle, who was born with a special condition, is unable to do many things such as walking. His older brother, the narrator, takes it upon himself to help teach him these things only because he himself is ashamed of having such a weak brother. He takes on Doodle as a project while saying, “But all of us must have something or someone to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine. I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death” (354). The point the narrator’s trying to get across is that, we all have things we are proud of and from that sprouts pride. He’s saying that pride is like a two-way street; you either take the good way or the bad way, or in his words, life or death. Also, the narrator mentions that pride on one hand, is wonderful to those who are so prideful, but that pride can also be terrible as it can bring out the worst ending. Since the narrator had such a weak brother, he wanted to help Doodle do the things he couldn’t for his own gain as he was embarrassed by having such a useless little brother. So,
In general, many of these themes are linked to the narrator’s feelings of pride and how that can affect anyone in the real world. The overarching theme of the story is mainly how pride can be connected to things like embarrassment and even ashamedness when you either realize your errors or come to fail upon something you dearly looked forward to completing, both of which the narrator experiences throughout the story with Doodle. The narrator and even Doodle were deeply ashamed when they both realized Doodle would not be able to keep up with the other boys when he started school: “He had failed and we both knew it, so we started back home… We never spoke (What are the words that can solder cracked pride?)...”