Matthew H.

Claudio

Ms. Price

English I

May 28 2019

Why Brother has Antisocial disorder

At the surface level, Brother from The Scarlet Ibis seems like a normal kid who lives a

normal life. However, looking closer through the text, it is clear that Brother has Antisocial

Personality Disorder. In The Scarlet Ibis, Brother takes care of Doodle, his little brother, who has

an unknown crippling disorder. Brother teaches Doodle to do basic life functions such as walking

and also teaches Doodle how to fight, swim, and many other things kids would do during

summer. One day, when the two brothers were outside, it started pouring rain, flashing lightning,

and booming thunder. Brother then abandoned Doodle, running towards their home as Doodle

was begging to be saved. In the end, Doodle was dead. This can be explained by Brother having

Antisocial Personality Disorder. He shows symptoms such as being cynical and callous, having

no regard for the safety of himself or Doodle, and being manipulative.

The first reason Brother has Antisocial Personality Disorder, or ASPD, is that he is

cynical and callous. According to mayo clinic “Being callous, cynical and disrespectful of

others” is a symptom of ASPD. Brother showed these traits when he was with Doodle and he

made him touch his own coffin. “One day I took him up to the barn loft and showed him his

casket, telling him how we all had believed he would die”(Hurst 2). He then goes on to force

Doodle to touch it. This is an example of being cynical and callus. He scars his little brother by

making him touch his coffin and telling him he was supposed to die. This shows no regard for his

brother’s feeling and shows pure cruelty and an extreme cynical side to brother. Brother being
callous is shown during this event. It leads to him scarring his brother and shows a lack of

remorse. These actions show symptoms of ASPD.

Another reason Brother has ASPD is his lack of regard for the safety of others. According

to MedlinePlus, a symptom of ASPD is “Having a Disregard for the safety of self and

others”(Kimmel). Brother exemplifies this symptom of ASPD on the day of Doodle’s death.

“After we had drifted a long way, I put the oars in place and made Doodle row back against the

tide. Black clouds began to gather in the southwest, and he kept watching them, trying to pull the

oars a little faster. When we reached Horsehead Landing, lightning was playing across half the

sky and thunder roared out, hiding even the sound of the sea”(Hurst 6). He knew Doodle was not

as strong or as knowledgeable as he was still learning to row. This shows Brother’s Disregard for

safety as he knew he would have rowed faster to get them to safety from the incoming

thunderstorm. If Brother would have taken the paddles, they would have made it to shore faster

and he could have even saved Doodle. Instead, he keeps the slowest paddler in charge of rowing,

throwing both of them in danger. This supports the fact that Brother has ASPD. He does not care

for the safety of himself or Doodle as seen by him not taking over the rowing job forcing them

both into the storm.

Despite the overwhelming evidence showing that Brother has ASPD, some people would

still argue that he does not have ASPD. These people try to point out that he helped Doodle learn

and that he really cared about him. They fail to see that Brother only did this for his own pride

and to improve his own life. The people that disagree think that he loves his brother. Although

this may seem valid at first it is easily disproved when you see that he only does it for himself.

This is shown after Doodle shows his parents that he can walk. Brother says this: “They did not

know that I did it for myself, that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their
voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother”(Hurst

3). From this quote it is easy to see that he only yeaches Doodle for his own pride and his own

gain. He admits himself that he only does it for his own personal benefit. This is manipulating his

parents and Doodle into thinking he is kind, which shows another symptom of ASPD. The Mayo

clinic states that people with ASPD “Use charm or wit to manipulate others for personal gain or

personal pleasure”. This is exactly what Brother did when he took credit for teaching Doodle to

walk. Brother manipulated his family into thinking that he really cared about Doodle, showing

strong symptoms of ASPD.

In conclusion Brother has ASPD, he shows many symptoms including cruelty,

endangering himself and others, and manipulating his family.Some implications of this illness on

Brother’s life will be that he is likely to deal with drug problems and he is also at a higher risk of

going to prison. He also will not feel the guilt of his brother’s death because of his disorder. His

parents will have a rough time keeping him in line. In conclusion, Brother’s ASPD will impact

his life and the life of others greatly. It will hurt the people closest to him and the loss of Doodle

will be proof of this.