What influences and motivations does the narrator have in "The Scarlet Ibis"?

This is a very important question to consider when
analysing this excellent short story. Essentially, this story concerns one brother who
wants to change his younger brother for his own selfish reasons. It is clear from
Doodle's birth that he is not like other children, and this is a fact that the narrator,
known as "Brother" in the text, finds very difficult to accept. From the beginning the
narrator makes clear his hopes for a younger brother:

readability="16">

I thought myself pretty smart at many
things,like holding my breath, running, jumping, or climbing the vines in Old Woman
Swamp, and I wanted more than anything else someone to race to Horsehead Landing,
someone to box with, and someone to perch with in the top fork of the great pine behind
the barn, where across the fields and swamps you could see the
sea.

However, clearly Doodle
is not able to do this, but this does not stop the narrator from being rather cruel to
him and also trying to change him into the brother that he always wanted. Note what his
motivation was for teaching him to walk:

readability="8">

When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed
at having a brother of that age who couldn't walk, so I set out to teach
him.

It is embarrassment that
leads the narrator to work so hard with his brother, and the narrator himself expresses
shame when others congratulate him at his success:

readability="8">

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.

It is this same
"pride" and "embarrassment" that leads the narrator to abandon his brother at the end of
the story, angry and frustrated at his failure to train Doodle, thus leaving him to
perish alone.

Thus when we think about what is the primary
motivation of the narrator in "The Scarlet Ibis," we see that it is his own pride and
embarrassment at having a brother like Doodle that leads him to try and change him into
the brother that he always wanted--which tragically ends in Doodle's
death.