Kylie Bergman

Curmano
L.A. P.5
20 November 2015
Regrets of Life
The sorrowful short story The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst reveals through character
that after tragic events, regret is soon to follow. ...Mama, crying, told me that even if William
Armstrong lived, he would never do these things with me.(317 Hurst). The narrator of this story
asks his mother about what he can do with his baby brother, we can tell that Mama regrets
having to tell her son that his brother isn't normal. It is tragic that she had to have an invalid child
and we can infer that it must be painful to have to explain this to her son, that he won't have a
normal brother or life, in fact, from now on. Later on when Doodle is older he tells his mother,
I'm not hungry, said Doodle, and he knelt down beside the ibisI'm going to bury him(322
Hurst). Doodle watches a beautiful Scarlet Ibis bird die before him. We can infer, by the way he
kneels beside it that he feels regret and guilt that he could not save it, so he decides to bury it.
The next regret comes from the narrator, I began to weepDoodle! I screamed above the
pounding storm...I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis.(323 Hurst). At this point in
the story the narrator had left behind his brother in a storm and has just found him dead.
Although he didnt know what happened, his emotional reaction shows us that he feels extreme
regret and guilt for not going back to save his brother. The characters in this story show as a
tragedy occurs regret is soon to follow.

Works Cited

Hurst, James. "The Scarlet Ibis." Elements of Literature. Ed. Robert E. Probst and G.
Kylene Beers. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003. 315-23. Print.