The Scarlet Ibis Flashcards
by James Hurst — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: The Scarlet Ibis
Who wrote The Scarlet Ibis?
James Hurst, an American author who worked as a banker in New York City. It was published in The Atlantic Monthly in July 1960.
Who is the narrator of The Scarlet Ibis?
The narrator is an unnamed older brother, referred to as Brother, who tells the story as a retrospective confession from adulthood.
What is Doodle's real name?
William Armstrong. His brother nicknames him Doodle because of the way he crawls, resembling a doodlebug.
Why is Doodle not expected to survive as a baby?
He is born with severe physical disabilities. The family even has a small coffin built for him, though he ultimately survives infancy.
Why does Brother teach Doodle to walk?
Out of pride, not love. Brother is ashamed of having a disabled sibling and wants Doodle to appear normal before starting school.
What is Old Woman Swamp?
A cypress swamp near the family's home where Brother and Doodle spend time together. Doodle is enchanted by its beauty and cries when he first sees it.
What does Brother plan to teach Doodle beyond walking?
He creates an ambitious program to teach Doodle to run, swim, climb, and fight so he will be like other boys when school starts.
What is the scarlet ibis?
A rare tropical bird that appears in the family's yard after being blown off course by a storm. It is exhausted and dies in the bleeding tree.
How does Doodle react to the scarlet ibis's death?
He is deeply moved and insists on burying the bird himself, digging a hole with a shovel while the rest of the family goes inside.
What does the scarlet ibis symbolize?
It symbolizes Doodle. Both are rare, beautiful, and fragile. Both are pushed beyond their limits and die in similar poses, far from where they belong.
How does Doodle die?
During a thunderstorm, Brother runs ahead and abandons Doodle. When he returns, he finds Doodle crumpled under a red nightshade bush, stained with blood, dead.
What is the significance of the story's opening paragraph?
It describes graveyard flowers and a bleeding tree, foreshadowing death and loss. The narrator reveals from the start that this is a story of grief.
What is the main conflict of the story?
The conflict between Brother's pride-driven desire to make Doodle normal and Doodle's physical inability to meet those expectations.
What role does pride play in the story?
Pride is the narrator's central flaw. He admits his motivation for helping Doodle was selfish, and he describes pride as "a seed that bears two vines, life and death."
Why is the narrator considered an unreliable narrator?
His telling is colored by adult guilt and grief. Every detail is filtered through his need to confess, making the reader question how objectively events are portrayed.
What is the time period of the story?
The early twentieth century, around the time of World War I. References to the war provide historical context and parallel the themes of loss.
Where is the story set?
Rural North Carolina, on a family farm surrounded by marshes, swamps, and pine forests in the American South.
What foreshadows Doodle's death?
The opening imagery of graveyard flowers and the bleeding tree, the small coffin built for baby Doodle, and especially the death of the scarlet ibis.
How does nature function in the story?
Nature mirrors the emotional landscape. The swamp represents beauty and possibility, while storms and bleeding trees signal danger and death.
What is the tone of the story?
Elegiac and confessional. The narrator speaks with the weight of lifelong guilt, and the prose has a mournful, lyrical quality throughout.
What does Brother call Doodle at the end?
He calls Doodle his "fallen scarlet ibis," explicitly connecting his brother's death to the death of the exotic bird.
What is the parallel structure in the story?
The deaths of the scarlet ibis and Doodle mirror each other. Both are found crumpled, stained red, having been destroyed by forces beyond their control.
What does "pride is a wonderful, terrible thing" mean?
Brother reflects that pride motivated him to teach Doodle to walk (wonderful) but also drove him to push Doodle to death (terrible). It produces both life and destruction.
Why does Brother abandon Doodle in the storm?
Out of anger and frustration at Doodle's inability to keep up. He runs ahead, knowing Doodle fears being left alone, as a cruel act of punishment.
What does the small coffin represent?
Built when Doodle was born, the coffin represents the family's expectation of his death and foreshadows his eventual fate. Brother once forces Doodle to touch it.