Doodle's Brother In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

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“There is within me a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to Doodle”(Hurst 557). Being kind and being nasty are everyday parts of life. Sometimes these emotions are awoken by uncontrollable situations, as in the case of Doodle. Doodle is a boy who was born with a disability that prevents him from what his brother wants him to be, a normal brother. To show his disappointment, Doodle’s brother releases negative feelings towards Doodle. As much as he shows his disappointment, he still loves his brother. In his short story, The Scarlet Ibis, James Hurst uses Doodle’s first-person point of view in order to show how Doodle’s only brother has negative …show more content…
To solve this problem, Doodle’s brother plans to kill Doodle by suffocating him. By producing this evidence, Doodle’s brother is essentially denigrating Doodle. He acts cruelly by calling him an invalid and plots to kill him because he might not be normal. He expresses hatred towards Doodle, calling him unbearable. Another example of Doodle’s negativity is when one day, Doodle’s brother expressed his negative feelings by bringing Doodle up to a barn loft and showed him Doodle’s Paris green covered coffin. This coffin was meant for Doodle when the family though he was going to die as an infant. Doodle’s brother says to Doodle,” and before I’ll help you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it”(Hurst 557). This quote means that Doodle’s brother is punishing Doodle for being an invalid by forcing him to confront his own mortality. BY forcing Doodle to touch his own coffin, Doodle’s brother is putting Doodle in a situation that is potentially dangerous and uncomfortable for Doodle, whether he likes it or not. He does not care for Doodle’s well-being. Doodle’s brother feels bad about Doodle’s disability and wants Doodle to feel bad as well. So, by sending these harsh emotions to Doodle, Doodle’s brother has very negative feelings towards
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