Question

"There is within me (and with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by a stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and at times I was mean to Doodle". What is the narrator trying to convey by putting "and with sadness I have watched it in others" in parenthesis?

A.The narrator is admitting that he can recognize "cruelty" because he was "mean" himself


B. The narrator is erasing some of his own guilt by stating that others possess "cruelty" too


C. The narrator is indicating that he feels victimized by "cruelty."


D.The narrator is hoping that no one will remember his "cruelty" toward Doodle

Answer 1

B. The narrator is erasing some of his own guilt by stating that others possess "cruelty" too .

Step-by-step explanation:

James Hurst's short story The Scarlet Ibis revolves around the story of William "Doodle" Armstrong who was born with a heart problem. Though narrated by the brother, the story deals with the theme of love and hate and even resentment for his disabled brother.

In the given excerpt from the story, the narrator only addressed as "Brother" recalls how he would hang out with his younger brother. He admits that at times he felt stifled to be 'stuck' with his slow brother, unable to be at par with his friends. The use of parenthesis in the words "and with sadness I have watched it in others" is to convey the narrator's own sense of justifying his guilt in his treatment of Doodle while they were younger. He mentioned that he has "watched it in others", implying that the very same mean streak is also evident in others, which seems to mean that what he did was also something that others have also done.

Thus, the right answer is option B.