Comparative Essay Sample: Shame by Dick Gregory and The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst

Two stories that connect to each other while also connecting the readers, are Shame by Dick Gregory and The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst. Shame is a story that takes place sometime in the mid 1900s and is about a boy named Richard who grew up in poverty and faces other troubles because of it. The Scarlet Ibis takes place in North Carolina in the early 1900s and is about a boy named Doodle who was born with heart issues and was told he would die, but with help from his brother, he overcame his problems. Both Shame and The Scarlet Ibis share multiple connections such as, a common theme, the use of symbolism, and similar characterization.

In both Shame and Scarlet Ibis, the stories show how even if you’re different and don’t fit in, it won’t stop you from doing great things. In Shame the main character Richard was different from his classmates, while they all had a dad with a good job, nice clothes, and a lot of money, he did not. He felt ashamed of that, “There was shame there. Now there was shame everywhere.” But even though those things might’ve held him back before, they didn’t later in life. When he grew up he went to college, spoke in front of people, broke track records, got married, and got a job. In Scarlet Ibis, the doctors told Doodle that he wouldn’t be able to walk and they all thought he was going to die when he was born. His body was crippled and he couldn’t even crawl right, “He seemed all head, with a tiny body that was red and shriveled like an old man’s. Everybody thought he was going to die.” Even all these complications didn’t stop him from proving everyone wrong and doing things normal kids did. With help from his brother, Doodle learned to stand, walk, run, and swim. 

Both the authors of Shame and Scarlet Ibis used symbolism to tell their stories. In Shame, Helene Tucker, the girl Richard had a crush on, was a symbol of everything he wanted and wanted to be. “Everybody’s got a Helene Tucker, a symbol of everything you want.” Richard wasn’t wealthy and often didn’t have warm clothes or food, but Helene did, she was clean and popular, things Richard wanted to be, “I loved her for her goodness, her cleanness, her popularity.” Another example of the display of symbolism is in Scarlet Ibis. The Scarlet Ibis that Doodle and his family watched die symbolized Doodle. One way the bird symbolizes Doodle was, it was out of place in the place it died, “How many miles had it traveled to die like this, in our yard, beneath the bleeding tree?” Doodle also felt out of place because he was different from everyone else. When the bird died it looked graceful and delicate, and when Doodle died the author described it in a way that made Doodle seem delicate and fragile, “ For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis.” 

Both of the authors' writing styles characterize the main protagonists in a way that makes us feel the same towards them in both stories. Both the main protagonists have a tough life and go through hard things causing the reader to empathize with them. In Shame, Richard is shamed in front of his whole class for not having money or a father, “ We are collecting this money for you and your kind, Richard Gregory. If your daddy can give fifteen dollars you have no business being on relief.” The author portrayed Richard and his situation in a way that put us in his shoes and made us feel how Richard felt. We felt sad for Richard when he talked about how Helene Tucker was everything he wanted to be and everything he wasn’t, “She was always clean and she was smart in school.” The way James Hurst wrote about Doodle in The Scarlet Ibis intrigued us and touched us as a reader. Doodle had a hard time walking and doing everyday things, “I helped him up, and he smiled at me ashamedly, he had failed and we both knew it. He would never be like the other boys at school.” We triumphed in Doodle’s victories along with him as he learned to stand and walk on his own, “Finally one day he stood alone for a few seconds. When he fell, I grabbed him in my arms and hugged him, our laughter ringing through the swamp like a bell.” Both of these stories connected the reader by putting them in the main protagonist’s situation and shared their emotions. 

Both Shame and The Scarlet Ibis share multiple connections. They share a common theme, use symbolism, and similar characterization. They touch on topics and situations the reader can relate to and connect with.