Sometimes people blinded by pride cannot see how harmful their actions are. This common trait unites the protagonists of three stories: “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, “My Wonder Horse” by Sabine R. Ulibarri, and “The Utterly Perfect Murder” by Ray Bradbury. In Hurst’s story, a boy ashamed of having a sick younger brother unknowingly kills the brother when he tries to “fix” him. In Ulibarri’s tale, the narrator is so desperate to catch an elusive horse and become a man that he does not realize how much the horse longs to be free. Finally, in Bradbury’s narrative, the protagonist is so full of pride that he makes the unreasonable decision to end a childhood bully’s life and avenge his younger self. These three stories all portray how a person overcome with pride makes destructive decisions because they have lost the capacity for compassion, empathy, and reason. In Hurst’s story, the protagonist’s excessive pride causes him to lose his compassion. His younger brother, Doodle, is an ill child, and right from the start, the narrator is ashamed of being related to someone so weak. When Doodle is five years old, he remarks, “I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who…show more content… The characters were only able to gain these traits once they had lost their pride. In “The Scarlet Ibis” the brother gained compassion for Doodle after he saw that his pride had pushed Doodle to his death. In “My Wonder Horse” the narrator gained empathy towards the Wonder Horse after he saw that his pride had captured an animal who needed to be free. In “The Utterly Perfect Murder” the protagonist had to look past his pride and into the eyes of the man he wanted to kill, in order to finally see reason. Truly, pride can overshadow the good parts of human nature, and it takes time and experiences to help a person overcome their
