As the baby suddenly discovers the ability to move around, the protagonist bestows a new name on his brother: Doodle. After all, nobody would expect much from a child with a name such as that. He says that it “…was probably the kindest thing I ever did for him.” He is being protective. He is telling the world that Doodle cannot live up to their expectations, and not to hate him for it. In a way, he is trying to console himself. When he begins to take care of his newly mobile 
brother, he notes that Doodle was a burden in many ways. Trying desperately to dissuade his brother from accompanying him out of the house, he is still unsuccessful. Finally he admits defeat. “Doodle was my brother, and he was going to cling to me forever, no matter what I did.” Indeed, that simple statement forms the basis of the rest of the story. When the protagonist succeeds in teaching Doodle to walk, at the celebration, he begins to cry. He knows that he didn’t do it for Doodle; he did it for selfish pride. However, convinced of his teaching prowess, he sets out to teach Doodle all of the necessary physical skills that he will need as a boy. At the end of the training period, though, Doodle has failed. He did not meet the impossible expectations set for him by his brother. This not only shatters the protagonist’s delusions of grandeur, but ignites a furious, embarrassed spark within him. As they walk back from the last failed training session in silence, he poses the question, “…what are the words that can solder cracked pride?” As the anger and disappointment mount, the protagonist leaves Doodle farther and farther behind. As Doodle struggles to keep up, the protagonist unleashes his pent up feelings of anger, leaving Doodle completely behind in the rain. When he returns for his brother, racked with guilt, he finds only a huddled corpse underneath the nightshade bush. Sobbing, he protects his brother from the storm with his own body, finally seeing his own actions in full for the first time. The theme is clearly evident in all of the examples of the protagonist’s attempts to teach Doodle. He is so hasty to change Doodle that he doesn’t stop and think about how his actions make him appear to others.
	Doodle is a weak, spacey character who nevertheless forms the basis of the entire conflict. Born with a defective heart, he wasn’t even expected to live. His brother’s 
selfish determination, however inadvertently, changed Doodle for the better. At first, his name is William Armstrong, which the protagonist notes “…sounds good only on a tombstone.” From the beginning, nobody expected anything of Doodle. For many children, that would have turned them into lazy, selfish brats. Not so with Doodle; in fact he is even more loving and kind than any regular child. He accepts the world as it is, seeking nothing from it. 