The Scarlet Ibis, And The Protagonist

“To me the interesting main character is never the one without flaws,” claims J.J. Abrams, as he explains that perfect characters do not appeal to readers. Readers like to connect to the characters in a story. No one is perfect, which makes connecting to a faultless character difficult. Every character is unique because of the flaws and characteristics that define them. Short stories must quickly develop characters, so the audience can create a connection early. Protagonists contain a narrow mind in a lot of short stories. Closed-minded characters do not consider the other side of a story or argument. Protagonists in the short stories “The Sniper,” “The Scarlet Ibis,” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” are narrow-minded and biased toward …show more content…
“The Scarlet Ibis” includes the protagonist, Brother, who’s flaws cause him to be negligent. In the part of the story where Doodle is in the loft and sees his coffin, Brother says, “before I’ll help you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it’” (Hurst). Brother ignores the fact that Doodle touching his own coffin could mentally scar him. He is insensitive when talking to Doodle, and thinks this is the only way Doodle can learn he was supposed to die as an infant. Later in the story, Brother decides to leave Doodle, stating, “I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us” (Hurst). When Brother abandoned Doodle, he did not understand that Doodle could not exert himself fully, or he would die of exhaustion. Brother was only focused on the self-pride of teaching Doodle how to run and swim. His’s arrogance and undivided focus on his success makes him …show more content…
For example, in the short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor is biased when thinking about Fortunato. Early in the story, Montresor writes, “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge” (Poe). This shows that once Montresor was insulted by Fortunato, there was no hope for forgiveness. Montresor ignores the possibility of Fortunato’s apology. He is inflexible, and decides to painfully kill him, claiming, “It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong” (Poe). Montresor explains there is only one way to kill someone when you are seeking revenge, and that is inflicting a death excruciating pain. Montresor is so narrow minded that he has a specific set of rules to gain revenge, and believes you cannot break said rules during the act of revenge. A character like Montresor, is oblivious to the flaws in his or her