“The Scarlet Ibis”
pp 333-344
“The Scarlet Ibis” pp 333-344
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Summary: The narrator has to care for his younger
brother Doodle, who is physically disabled. The
narrator is frustrated by this burden, but succeeds in
teaching Doodle to walk. After the narrator leaves
Doodle in the middle of a storm, Doodle dies trying
to meet the narrator’s expectations.
Setting: Southern America, ~1918 (WWI)
Characters: Doodle and Brother (narrator); Mama,
Daddy, Aunt Nicey, Bleeding tree, Scarlet Ibis, Mr.
Heath
“The Scarlet Ibis” Information (cont)
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Conflicts:
 Doodle’s disabilities
 Brother wanting a brother to play with—Doodle is more of a burden (p.
335)
 Brother and Doodle trying to overcome disabilities and walk, run,
paddle, etc.
 Scarlet Ibis dies in yard
 Thunderstorm—must get back to the house, but Doodle falls behind
Resolution:
 Doodle does learn to walk, and the boys become closer than they’d
probably ever imagine. While trying to teach Doodle to run (and being
somewhat mean-spirited), Brother leaves him behind in a storm. When he
goes back to get him, Doodle is dead and has blood on the front of his
shirt. His figure resembles that of the dead Scarlet Ibis from the yard
earlier that afternoon. Brother sounds serious and nostalgic in his tone
while portraying this event from earlier in his life, from which he most
likely felt significant guilt, sorrow, and helplessness.
Symbolism
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Definition: A symbol is a person, a place, an activity,
or an object that stands for something beyond itself.
Examples:
Symbolism in “The Scarlet Ibis”
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Red
Scarlet Ibis
Casket
“Blighted” summer
Rain
Dialogue
Some vocabulary to know…
 Dialogue= character conversation
 An
essential part of most short stories and novels. It is
always better to show or have happen than to explain or
to describe, and dialogue is one way to “show” and not
“tell.”
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Dialogue Tags= identify who is speaking
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Examples of common dialogue tags include:
I said
She said
Fred said
Mark commented
Sallie yelled
muttered Janice
said Max
asked William
Dialogue Rule 1
All talking needs to be surrounded by quotation
marks (").
"Go to your cupboard - I mean, your bedroom," he
wheezed at Harry.
The first (") is used just before the first word that the
person says, and the second (") is used just after the
last word. The comma has to go inside the quotation
marks.
Dialogue Rule 2
Instead of using a period at the end of the speech,
use a comma, if you are going to tell who is
talking.
"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the
giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer
mum's eyes.“
After the word “baby,” Rowling used a comma
because she was letting the readers know it was the
giant speaking. But after the word “eyes,” she could
use a period to finish the sentence.
Dialogue Rule 3
If you use a question mark, you don't need to change to
a comma.
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like
that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog
needs exercise, that one does.“
After the word “school,” Rowling used a question mark.
Usually, we use a comma before telling the readers who
the speaker is - but not with a question. The question mark
goes inside the quotation marks.
Dialogue Rule 4
If you use an exclamation mark, you don't need to
change to a comma.
"A stone that makes gold and stops you ever dying!"
said Harry. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone
would want it.”
After the word “dying,” Rowling used an exclamation
mark. Again, it needs to be inside the quotation
marks, and there is no need for a comma.
Dialogue Rule 5
If you have interrupted speech, to let the reader know who
is speaking, a comma is needed before the break, and
after the speaker's name.
"Professor," Harry gasped, "your bird - I couldn't do anything
- he just caught fire -“
After the word “Professor,” Rowling used a comma inside the
quotation marks to let the reader know that Harry was
speaking. When she wanted to start his talking again, she
used a comma after “gasped” to let the reader know about
the change. The second (") just before “your” let the readers
know that the talking started again.
Dialogue Rule 6
If someone is thinking about something, but doesn't say it
out loud, you can either use quotation marks or not.
Either way is acceptable.
Of course, he thought bitterly, Uncle Vernon was talking
about the stupid dinner party.
Rowling chose not to use quotations around Harry's thoughts.
She could just have easily used them like this...
"Of course," he thought bitterly, "Uncle Vernon was talking
about the stupid dinner party.”
Dialogue in “The Scarlet Ibis”
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I skipped through the rooms, down the echoing halls,
shouting, “Mama, he smiled. He’s all there! He’s all
there!” and he was.
I hadn’t expected such an answer. “So I won’t have to
haul you around all the time.”
“I can’t walk, Brother,” he said.
“Who says so?” I demanded.
“Mama, the doctor—everybody.”
“Oh, you can walk,” I said, and I took him by
the arms and stood him up.