Dante Alighieri once said: "Avarice, envy, pride, three fatal sparks, have inflamed the hearts of all." In the story "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst, it is shown how pride can be beneficial in some ways and harmful in others. The story begins when the narrator has a memory of his past when his younger brother Doodle was still alive. The narrator tells how everyone believed that Doodle was mentally and physically paralyzed. However, Doodle is a normal human being mentally, but has some difficulties physically. The narrator wants Doodle to become a "normal" boy, so he teaches him pretty much every activity that any boy Doodle's age would do. One day, Doodle and the narrator were playing in the fields. A big storm came and they both had to rush home before it became too much to handle. Doodle began to run after his brother, but he couldn't hold on, and eventually, his stamina ran out and he had to rest. The narrator felt irritated by Doodle and abandoned him. A few minutes later, the narrator discovered Doodle under a tree, blood dripping from his mouth, dead. In the story "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst, it is shown how pride can be beneficial in some ways and harmful in others. The narrator's pride teaches a physically deprived boy Doodle how to walk and gives him the same comforts. like any other normal child. The narrator's pride: "I [he] will teach Doodle how to walk" (170). Pride, in this case, gives the narrator enough courage and vigor to help another human being in a positive way. The world needs more people like the narrator, who are willing to benefit the lives of others in a tender way, to make another's life better and happier. For example, “He's so cute, so cute, cute, cute” (170). One's pride can really take the simple pleasures of life and make someone happy. The narrator performs a simple task by taking his brother to the swamp. With that action, Doodle is fascinated with happiness because he sees something he has never seen before. Having pride can be helpful in many ways; however, having too much pride can be harmful. In the story, the narrator's pride sometimes gets the better of him and he eventually kills his brother Doodle. At the end of the story, the narrator "...while I [He] lay protecting my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain" (176).