Do you know what it means to lose your brother? Do you know what it means to have a guilty conscience? In “The Scarlet Ibis” we find out. The narrator longs for a normal brother, but no matter how hard he tries, it's not enough. We will see how this makes the narrator emotional, selfish and persistent. The narrator's brother Doodles is very emotional throughout the story. He is mean to his brother but loves him “Sometimes I was mean to Doodle. One day I took him into the barn and showed him his coffin, telling him how we had all believed he would die” (James Hurst 353). They would have fun in the summer at Old Woman Swamp, where the narrator had taught Doodle to walk. One day Doodle gets up on his own and his brother is so gratified that he decides not to tell anyone because he knows that Doodle will soon be able to walk. That was one of the last good moments they had because Doodle always felt bad afterwards and when they tried to teach him to swim he couldn't. One day the narrator took Doodle swimming but there was a storm so they came home and Doodle was there ...