The Scarlet Ibis

‘The Scarlet Ibis’ by James Hurst in comparison to Supernatural

Dean is similar to the narrator of the story, Brother, and Sam is similar to William Armstrong, or Doodle.

There are some things that the Winchesters are similar to the two brothers in the Ibis that are obvious. For instance, Brother nicknames William ‘Doodle’, much like Dean calls Sam ‘Sammy’. Also, Dean is older than Sam, just like Brother is older than Doodle by a few years.

There are some striking comparisons between Brother and Dean. Brother says that ‘I thought myself pretty smart’, something that Dean shows when he flirts with and tries to impress woman. Brother says that he ‘was mean to Doodle’ sometimes. This is true to Dean as well, except he usually teases Sam rather than being actually mean to him like Brother is to Doodle.

Brother says he ‘was embarrassed’ of his brother at times but later states that ‘all of us must have something or someone to be proud of and Doodle had become’ his. Dean is very similar in this case. In 1.11, he say that Sam’s ‘always known what (he) want(s) and (he) go(es) after it’ then says simply, ‘I'm proud of you, Sammy.’

Brother is entrusted with his brother and he ‘had to pull him around’ and ended up ‘having to lug him around wherever (he) went’. This is similar to Dean, who took on the responsibility of caring for and practically raising Sam, right from the moment they left Kansas (‘(I) Always tried to protect you. Keep you safe...it was always my responsibility’ (2.22)).

In 2.22, Dean states that he wanted Sam ‘to be a kid, just for a little while longer’. This is similar to Brother when he recounts Doodle’s dream that he would marry their mother and Brother would marry their father. Brother says he ‘was old enough to know this wouldn’t work out....all (he) could do was whisper Yes, yes’. Both Dean and Brother have the desire to let their siblings dream and be innocent for as long as possible.

Dean is also different to Brother. In the Ibis, Doodle and Brother’s mother says that Doodle ‘must always be treated gently’ and has a ‘long list of don’ts’ when it came to Doodle. Brother says that he ‘ignored (them) once we got out of the house’. Dean was always very obedient to whatever their father told him to do, no matter what his heart was set on doing. This is shown in 1.11 when Dean wants to find John, but listens to his father’s instructions to stop looking for him and to do a hunt.

Sam is very similar to Doodle in this story. Doodle is a very curious child, as illustrated by the questions he asks throughout the story. Sam too was curious when he was younger, and as Dean said in 2.22, that when he was ‘little, couldn't have been more than five, (he) just started asking questions. How come we didn't have a mom? Why did we always have to move around? Where's Dad?’

Although Doodle had a rocky start to life, Brother says that after he managed to smile, ‘he became one of us’. Sam was very different from his family (for wanting to go to college, wanting to settle down and have a ‘normal’ family life rather than hunting), but as the seasons progress, he becomes more and more settled and comfortable with his circumstances. In 5.12, Sam says, ‘All the apple-pie, family crap? It’s stressful. Trust me –we don’t miss a damn thing’.

Near the end of the story, Brother recounts how after Doodle had failed and they were running home, his younger sibling kept ‘watching for a sign of mercy’. This is similar to Sam throughout Supernatural, who only wants to please Dean and do what will make him proud of his little brother. Sometimes however, Sam makes the wrong choices (like trusting Ruby in season 4), but once he knows he has made the mistake, he always looks to Dean for some type of redemption.

At the end of The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle dies after he ate some berries from a deadly nightshade bush. Even though Brother only left him for a few minutes, and Doodle didn’t know any better and died on accident, Brother still blames himself for it. We can tell this by the first few paragraphs of the story. Even though Brother is describing a beautiful late-summer day, there is a slight melancholy air to it even though we can assume Doodle died a few years earlier. This relates to Sam and Dean because when one of them dies (which oddly happens quite a lot), the other blames himself for the death and takes it badly, even if it wasn’t their fault.  They feel like they should’ve been able to do something to prevent it, as shown by Dean in ‘All Hell Breaks Loose (Part 2)’, when he says that he ‘had one job (to take care of Sam), and I screwed that up’. Also, whenever one Winchester leaves the other, even if it’s only for a short period of time, something usually goes wrong. Examples of this are in season four, right after Dean dies, Sam begins to trust Ruby and drink demon blood, and 1.11, Dean nearly ends up getting sacrificed to a Pagan god.