By James Hurst

The action in this story takes place --In a rural southern townWhat does William Armstrong do to earn his nickname?

He crawls backward like a doodlebug

The narrator pulls Doodle in a cart because…

He’s told to take Doodle wherever he goes.

The central conflict in “The Scarlet Ibis” comes from the narrator’s inability to accept his —

His brother’s limitationsWhen the narrator teaches Doodle to walk, the narrator believes that —

He can teach Doodle to do other things too

During the story, Doodle —Begs his brother not to leave him alone.

One example of the narrator’s cruelty to his brother is when the narrator —

Names Doodle after a bugWhich of the following statements contains figurative language?

The smell of the graveyard flowers softly says the name of the dead.

From the way Doodle buries the ibis, you can infer that Doodle —

Is obedient but strong willed

When the two brothers race home to beat the storm, Doodle —

Tries to keep up but falls behindIn fiction a symbol can be described as a(n) —

An object that stands for something other than itself

Which of the following events best symbolizes Doodle’s fate?

The scarlet ibis falls from the tree and dies.

The terrible storm could be a symbol for —

The narrator’s inner conflict

What might the war symbolize in “The Scarlet Ibis”?

The narrator’s own struggle

Choose a symbol from the story, and explain its meaning. Then, on a separate sheet of paper, tell how the symbol affects the way you as a reader respond to the characters and events in “The Scarlet Ibis.”

In this story the scarlet ibis is a symbol for the narrator’s brother. Both Doodle & the ibis die as a result of their inability to cope with the world. An ibis can live only in its natural habitat; when it finds itself far from home, it can’t survive. The ibis in the story has been forced from its natural surroundings, eventually finding its way to a tree outside the narrator’s home. The ibis dies, too weak to survive. Like the ibis, the narrator’s brother, Doodle, is special & too weak to survive. By using the ibis as a symbol, the author emphasizes Doodle’s uniqueness & shows how this quality is also what challenges him. Like the ibis, Doodle dies because he is not suited to his surroundings. The ibis as a symbol for Doodle reminds me that rare beauty is all too often fragile.