Brotherly Love?

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Brotherly Love? “The Scarlett Ibis” by James Hurst shows what cruelty really means. For Brother the fact that he has an invalid sibling is like the end of the world. It was almost like Brother didn’t love his brother Doodle because of his disabilities.Because Brother would get tired of dealing with Doodle, he would be cruel to him. Brother’s cruelty toward Doodle comes from the embarrassment at having an invalid brother, the burden of having to take care of Doodle, the disappointment of Doodle not living up to his expectations. Since the beginning of the story, Brother is muddled and embarrassed that his younger brother Doodle is born with disabilities.For example, when Brother was upset when he found out that Doodle may not be able to walk .Brother says ”When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him”(597).Brother is embarrassed because unlike most kids Doodle can’t walk .He taught Doodle how walk not because he wanted to, but because he didn’t want to be seen with Doodle still crawling at the age of five.Brother is embarrassed of his brother being born with disabilities, that he would rather teach him to walk so he would feel less embarrassed instead of thinking about Doodle’s feelings. Like most people who have younger siblings its a bother to take them everywhere you go,especially to Brother.For example, Brother couldn’t walk out the door without having to take Doodle with him.Brother says,”If I so much as picked up my cap, he would start crying to go with me” (596).Since Doodle couldn’t walk yet, Brother had to lug him around in a wagon. It was almost like taking care of Doodle was his responsibility. To Brother taking care of Doodle was just another chore, he didn’t like doing it but he had to. In the beginning of the story, all Brother talked about was how much he

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