Aaron Camacho

Ms. Ying
Period 3
9-25-14

Page 1

Conflict in The Scarlet Ibis

Have you ever cracked under pressure and revealed a side of you that you never knew
existed? Conflict brings out the best and worst in people. Many times, this reveals the persons
true character. Conflict is the backbone of most books and other literary works. Hursts The
Scarlet Ibis has the narrator going through constant internal and external conflict. Though many
say that conflict makes people act contrary to their true selves, the narrators response to conflict
reveals important aspects of his character because it show a new side of him that was hidden
until conflict rose to a climax.

Firstly, we get a peak at the narrators dark underlying traits when he first has the notion to
kill Doodle. After learning that Doodle was not going to be the best brother ever, the narrator
gets frustrated so [the narrator] began to make plans to kill [Doodle] by smothering him with
a pillow. (Hurst 92) To be mad at having an invalid brother is quite understandable, but murder
is completely out of the question. The story conveys the narrators inability to deal with conflict
by showing the terrible things he would do. Another notable example is just a bit later. The
narrator brings Doodle to the barn loft where Doodles coffin is telling him how we all had
believed he would die. (Hurst 94) This is very cruel and heartless of the narrator. There was no
purpose for this except to scare poor little Doodle. The narrator is portrayed here as a cruel
tyrant, scaring Doodle for no good reason other than the conflict the narrator has with himself.

Aaron Camacho
Page 2
Ms. Ying
Period 3
9-25-14
The conflict, and therefore the narrator, calm down a bit for the middle of the story, but at
the end, it all begins to become tense again. The most notable example is during the storm when
that streak of cruelty within me was awakened. (Hurst 101) The narrator runs off, leaving
Doodle behind to die. The conflict here was that the narrator had worked so hard that he felt like
it had to be perfect, so he pushed Doodle to the point of death. This dreadful action shows how
the narrator couldn't see through the conflict and kept on pushing. Then after the conflict dies
down, the narrator goes back to find Doodle has died. The narrator tries to wake Doodle
shaking him, but there was no answer but the ropy rain. (Hurst 102) This is when the
conflict has died down a bit, and the narrator regains some sanity. The narrators lucid reaction to
Doodles death comes only after the conflict is put aside.

In conclusion, conflict is the real enemy here. It is found out that conflict does bring out the
characters true personality, with the narrator being an absolute monster on the inside. Perhaps
this is just the example of the evil lurking under a person, and there may be other times when a
seemingly terrible person will be the moral and just hero. This same lesson can be applied to real
life to see exactly what a person is like on the inside.