Theme of Indifference In The Scarlet Ibis

When faced with indifference people tend to avoid them instead of accepting them openly.  Society has created a false illusion of what's normal and acceptable. In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, he unravels how indifference causes people to be afraid/ashamed of what society thinks. 

The author shows how many people fear differences, making it difficult for people to accept them. When Doodle was born the family changed their lifestyle to hide the “different” from society because they were ashamed knowing they couldn’t accept him themselves.  “He was born when [Brother] was six . . . the outset a dissapointment” (Hurst 1) At first, Brother was excited to have a Brother like him, but when he realized that Doodle wasn’t able to be just like him he pushed him away. “Everyone thought he was going to die - everybody except Aunt Niecy” (Hurst 1). Aunt Niecy was the only one who put love first as the whole family prepared for Doodle to pass. They didn’t want to get attached to Doodle because of the indifference between them. Doodles passing wouldn’t put their shame out for the world to see.  “Mr. Heath . . . build a little mahogany coffin for him” (Hurst 1). Their father asked for the coffin to be made so that when the inevitable happened their lives could continue as normal. After Doodle survived longer than expected they formed a bond that made them feel bad about pushing themselves away because of the indifference between them and the shame they felt. 

Brother's feelings were drastically different from what he thought they would be after finally having a younger brother, “I wanted a brother”(Hurst 1). He was so excited to finally be able to make memories with someone only to find out that Doodles' differences would make that merely impossible. After their mom found out she felt obligated to let Brother know “He might not. . . even be, “all there”''(Hurst 1). After hearing this come from his own mom he began to look at Doodle differently causing a riff to form in between them.  When he came to terms with the situation “It was bad enough having an invalid Brother . . . so i began to make plans to kill him ”(Hurst 1) from being so excited to have a Brother to planning to kill him because the difference between them showed that Brother was being consumed by what society thought was normal out of siblings. 

After Doodle survived past the time frame they were told, The whole family started to accept him except Brother. “When Doodle was five years old, I was so embarrassed . . . So I sent out to teach him ”(Hurst 2) For five years Doodle didn't know how to walk, making Brother embarrassed to have to wheel him around and take care of him. He decided it was time for him to learn to walk. While bringing it up to Doodle his response was “I can’t walk, brother” (Hurst 2) he automatically didn't think it was possible for him to be able to walk. After a whole summer he was finally able to walk, after showing the family “Doodle told them it was [brother] who taught him to walk . . . [brother] began to cry ”(Hurst 2). At this point he was finally able to partially accept Doodle for who he was even though it wasn't perfect. 

When finally able to start to put the differences behind them another difference came to light. The whole family started to look at him normally but a loud noise came from outside. “At that moment the bird began to flutter, but the wings were uncoordinated ”(Hurst 5) While everyone said leave it, don't mess with it, Doodle knew he couldn't just let it suffer. Then realizing “it’s dead”(Hurst 5) Doodle wanted to know everything he could. “it’s a scarlet ibis”(Hurst 5) when realizing how far the bird has come just to pass Doodle made a memorial for him which caused Brother to see that he had a different weak spot than him. When Doodle returned from his memorial aunt nicey exclaimed “Dead birds are bad luck” . . . “specially red dead birds!””(Hurst 5) causing the family to have their own thoughts about what might happen. 

While the riff between them came back Brother pushed him even further than normal. He took Doodle into the woods to try to get him more “normal”. After pushing him harder than ever before Brother started to see that Doodle was struggling and they decided to head home. As they were heading home a storm came causing them to run “I heard Doodle had fallen behind, cry out, “Brother, Brother, Don't leave me! Don't leave me! ”(Hurst 6) At this point Brother had to make a decision on whether he should go back and help Doodle or just keep going. After a second where all the memories between them flashed “ [Brother] ran as fast as [he] could ”(Hurst 6). When the storm calmed down he didn't hear Doodle coming behind him, making him anxious. When realizing Doodle's body may have finally given up he went to find him. When walking he saw him ”Doodle! Doodle!” I cried, shaking him, but there was no answer but the ropy rain ”(Hurst 6). At this point he realized that he was gone and went through all the emotions that it was his fault and that Doodle was never the one who he should have shut out. 

Overall, differences between people have caused society to form a certain view upon them, making it hard for people to accept differences. After Brother had to watch Doodle be part of the differences in society. Brother tried to make them equals by teaching him to be able to take care of himself. After pushing Doodle to the extremt it only resulted in Doodles death. At what point do we let differences bring us together instead of fitting into society's standards?