The story is set in North Carolina during the early 1900s, around the time of World War 1. The narrator has a young brother, who is born weak and disabled. The family claimed that if he did somehow survive, he would never be able to function like a normal person. Much to everyone’s surprise, the baby lives, and his parents name him William Armstrong, though is given the nickname, “Doodle” because of the way he crawls. As Doodle grows, the narrator sees him as a burden and teaches him to do things such as walk, run, swim, and more. The narrator does this out of pride, not love. As time goes on and the narrator pushes him harder, Doodle starts to look sickly and weakened. One summer day, a scarlet ibis appears in the family’s yard, and almost
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Instead of caring for his brother, he saw Doodle as something broken he needed to fix. Everything the narrator taught Doodle to do was done to ensure that he didn’t have a disabled brother. Another thing that stood out to me was the attitude of the narrator’s family regarding the scarlet ibis. The mother sees it as a diseased creature that shouldn’t be touched and insisted that they leave its body, while the dad only seems interested in indentifying it. Aunt Nicey claims that the ibis is bad luck because it is a red dead bird. Only Doodle insists on helping it. As I was reading, I liked the vivid word choice the author used. It gave me a clear mental image of the story. I also enjoyed the symbolism that was incorporated into almost every aspect of the plot. The scarlet ibis was the main symbol, representing Doodle and how his body was pushed until he collapsed of exhaustion. At the end of the story, the narrator takes the place of his brother, protecting Doodle’s limp body as Doodle did for the bird. When the author describes that Doodle’s shirt was, “stained a brilliant red,” it represents the beauty of the scarlet ibis and how the narrator uses the memory of the bird to cope with the frightening image of his dead brother. I ranked this story as my favorite because it touched me on an emotional level. I found myself crying even as I described the story to others. I loved the emotions the author put into this story. I know it will stay with me for a long
Instead of caring for his brother, he saw Doodle as something broken he needed to fix. Everything the narrator taught Doodle to do was done to ensure that he didn’t have a disabled brother. Another thing that stood out to me was the attitude of the narrator’s family regarding the scarlet ibis. The mother sees it as a diseased creature that shouldn’t be touched and insisted that they leave its body, while the dad only seems interested in indentifying it. Aunt Nicey claims that the ibis is bad luck because it is a red dead bird. Only Doodle insists on helping it. As I was reading, I liked the vivid word choice the author used. It gave me a clear mental image of the story. I also enjoyed the symbolism that was incorporated into almost every aspect of the plot. The scarlet ibis was the main symbol, representing Doodle and how his body was pushed until he collapsed of exhaustion. At the end of the story, the narrator takes the place of his brother, protecting Doodle’s limp body as Doodle did for the bird. When the author describes that Doodle’s shirt was, “stained a brilliant red,” it represents the beauty of the scarlet ibis and how the narrator uses the memory of the bird to cope with the frightening image of his dead brother. I ranked this story as my favorite because it touched me on an emotional level. I found myself crying even as I described the story to others. I loved the emotions the author put into this story. I know it will stay with me for a long