Prompt B

Name:
Course:
Instructor:
Date:
Prompt B
The narrator (the brother) is to blame for Doodle’s death. The narrator is malicious and most of his actions are not justifiable. The brother is driven by difficult emotions like insecurity and shame. He was embarrassed when Doodle was born. He says: “He was born when I was six and was, from the outset, a disappointment” (Hurst 1). In fact, he wanted him dead and even thought of killing him. He says: “Having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable, so I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow” (Hurst 1). It’s evident that his strong disappointment and embarrassment made him push Doodle too hard.
The narrator’s efforts to help Doodle walk were not entirely genuine. He pushed him too hard to make him normal to escape the embarrassment and to have someone who he could have fun with. It means that his efforts were out of selfishness.
The narrator seems to be an intense child. Like many intense characters in tragic narratives, his intensity also contributes to the tragedy. The behavior of the narrator at the end was out of frustration of how they failed. “He had failed, and we both knew it… the knowledge that Doodle’s and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awakened” (Hurst 6). Even if he was too frustrated, it wasn’t reasonable to leave his little handicap brother in the rain.
In the end, the narrator cried out of sorrow and guilt when he realized that Doodle had died.

It’s probably because he came to senses and realized that he had made a cold-blooded decision of leaving his brother in the rain just because of his frustrations.
Therefore, the brother is to blame for the Doodle death because to love someone means accepting them as they are and helping them to do better. However, since Doodle was not going to be the brother he wanted, he pushed him too hard leading to his death. His actions were cruel despite being aware of the ‘don’ts’ for Doodle.
Work Cited
Hurst, James. The Scarlet Ibis, By James Hurst. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003. Print.