A Review of James Hurst’s Story “The Scarlet Ibis”

In James Hirst’s short story “The Crimson Ibis”, a young invalid is born with a large head and a small heart. Doodle is born with a large head, a small body and a small heart. Over time, Doodle has overcome many obstacles with the assistance of his older brother. Doodle, a boy with disabilities, develops more slowly mentally, and it is hard for him to learn to walk with the help of his brother, who is six years his senior.

Doodle’s brother didn’t feel like taking him around in a go-kart, so they decided to train him to walk before his first birthday, and he does. Throughout the story, Doodle and his brother never parted. other are faced with challenges that people believe he won’t be able to accomplish, but they show them wrong. As Doodle grows older, his brother makes sure that he doesn’t fall behind the other kids and tries to keep Doodle ahead of, or at least at the same level as the other children.

Doodle learns to walk, run, play, and even row a boat: all of the things the doctor said he wouldn’t be able to do because of his heart. The story ends tragically by Doodle, scared by the thunderstorm, trying to catch up to his brother who is running faster than he is yelling out “Don’t leave me brother, don’t leave me!” When his brother realizes that he stopped running, he turns around and finds Doodle under a tree with blood in his mouth. His heart gave out from running too hard, and his brother held him as he died.