Scarlet Ibis Essay
There is a saying that frankly states Only the good die young. Of course, this observation
is not quite literal, as many moral individuals live long and happy lives. Consider, however, the
notion that perhaps the innocence of youth crumbles, jaded, before a chance is truly given to
mature. The loss of innocence and the youthful sins of pride, overconfidence, and infallibility
manifest within the narrator, Brother, in James Hurst's short story "The Scarlet Ibis". This
develops into the central theme after the narrator experiences the tragic death of his handicapped
brother because of his own doing.
Brother laments, "For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my
fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain." (Hurst 6). The dispiriting imagery conjured by the
words above convey a sense of loss of self as well as the loss of another. Hurst foreshadows this
loss (intangibly sometimes) throughout the short story: "The last graveyard flowers were
blooming..." (Hurst 1) and "Such a name sounds good only on a tombstone." (Hurst 1) are two
instances on the first page. New Criticism or [Formalism] suggests that one should pull from the
story the "universal truths" "Through 'isolated' and 'objective reading'..." (AASU Writing
Center 1) the underlying universal truth in "The Scarlet Ibis" is simply that pride will carefully
tear one's world apart, rendering the proud emotionally wrought. As well, the victim of pride
can not be excluded, as Doodle's life and death is a literal transliteration of the saying because he
was a physically handicapped child who's life ended as a result of being abandoned by his older
brother. The narrator woefully proclaims, "They did not know that I did it for myself, that pride,
whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because
I was ashamed of having a crippled brother." (Hurst 3).
is not quite literal, as many moral individuals live long and happy lives. Consider, however, the
notion that perhaps the innocence of youth crumbles, jaded, before a chance is truly given to
mature. The loss of innocence and the youthful sins of pride, overconfidence, and infallibility
manifest within the narrator, Brother, in James Hurst's short story "The Scarlet Ibis". This
develops into the central theme after the narrator experiences the tragic death of his handicapped
brother because of his own doing.
Brother laments, "For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my
fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain." (Hurst 6). The dispiriting imagery conjured by the
words above convey a sense of loss of self as well as the loss of another. Hurst foreshadows this
loss (intangibly sometimes) throughout the short story: "The last graveyard flowers were
blooming..." (Hurst 1) and "Such a name sounds good only on a tombstone." (Hurst 1) are two
instances on the first page. New Criticism or [Formalism] suggests that one should pull from the
story the "universal truths" "Through 'isolated' and 'objective reading'..." (AASU Writing
Center 1) the underlying universal truth in "The Scarlet Ibis" is simply that pride will carefully
tear one's world apart, rendering the proud emotionally wrought. As well, the victim of pride
can not be excluded, as Doodle's life and death is a literal transliteration of the saying because he
was a physically handicapped child who's life ended as a result of being abandoned by his older
brother. The narrator woefully proclaims, "They did not know that I did it for myself, that pride,
whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because
I was ashamed of having a crippled brother." (Hurst 3).