The Scarlet Ibis: Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Tenuous Relationship Between Pride and Love

The duality of pride and love thematically dominates the storytelling in “The Scarlet Ibis.” The narrator of the story, Brother, acts out of both pride and love. He loves his younger brother, surely, but he is prideful of his own personal accomplishments with the boy. He claims that love is what created this pride in the first place. When Doodle learns to walk, Brother swells with personal pride. He even cries, realizing the shame of this fact—he isn’t happy for Doodle, he’s happy for himself. He’s proud of himself for accomplishing the task. As they continue working on Doodle’s physical strength, Brother feels more and more personal pride. Ultimately, his love for his brother is eclipsed by this pride, leading to Doodle’s death despite the fact that this pride, according to the narrator, comes from love.

After Brother’s initial negative reaction to Doodle’s birth, he learns to love his brother very much. He spends all of his time with Doodle and teaches him to walk in secret, out of sight of the rest of his family and away from their potential influence. The intermingling of pride and love is very thematically complex. It’s clear that Brother cares for Doodle, but it’s equally clear his motivations are tinged with selfishness. Indeed, once the boy learns to walk, pride wins out over this brotherly love. Brother begins to think of himself as “infallible,” or unable to do wrong with Doodle.

The Inevitability of Death

Death is a constant threat in this story—one that comes swiftly and unexpectedly for Doodle, but looms over the narrative from the beginning. Though the landscape around the two boys teems with life, death is always at the fringes. The story begins with the birth of a newborn, expected to die, and ends with the death of that same child, providing a framework for the tale in which death ultimately ekes out a victory. The death of the scarlet ibis is the most potent symbol that reflects this theme, but it’s not the only one: the death of the family’s crops and trees in the hurricane, as well as the existence of Doodle’s tiny coffin, both serve as reminders of death’s presence.

Though the persistence of life is evident, portrayed in the lush landscape of Old Woman Swamp and even in Brother’s rugged vitality and thirst for adventure, death looms larger and ultimately prevails. When it becomes clear that Doodle will survive his infancy, Brother takes it upon himself to try harder. Life isn’t enough, it seems—he wants to cultivate in Doodle’s experience the kind of life he considers worth living. In trying to control the way Doodle lives his life, Brother instead brings about Doodle’s death. The scarlet ibis mirrors Doodle’s fragility; the storm that kills it mirrors Brother’s relentless campaign to “improve” Doodle through struggle and adversity. That Doodle takes the death of the ibis particularly hard suggests he sees himself in the bird and recognizes that death, like nature, is uncompromising and inescapable.

The Complex Bond of Brotherhood

From the beginning of the story onward, the narrator expresses his desire to have a playmate, a brother with whom he can run and play, box, and climb the vines of the swamp. But Doodle is born physically disabled, and a story of brotherhood unfolds that is quite unlike the hopeful visions of Brother’s expectations. Still, he loves Doodle and spends all his days with him. He must help his brother do everything, and he shows Doodle “the only beauty” he knows: the natural wonders of Old Woman Swamp. Together they weave necklaces and crowns out of wildflowers, and they spend their days dreaming of futures, and dreaming of “lies,” which are fanciful imaginative stories. Doodle may not be the playmate Brother desires, but there is love between them nonetheless.

The brothers possess a special bond that is ultimately broken because Brother cannot accept Doodle as he is. When Doodle cannot fulfill the rigorous training program his brother has developed for him, he looks to his brother for mercy. But he receives none. When Brother finds Doodle huddled under a tree, dead, his love for his brother rushes forward like a flood, though too late. He embraces his brother in the rain, howling his name again and again, realizing at last the consequences of his pride.

Previous section Main Ideas Next section Motifs