Schwartz                                                                                                                                 Source: J. Lax, LCC

English 9                          “The Scarlet Ibis” Discussion Guide

Please write your numbered, thoughtful and complete responses in complete sentences on your own paper.  Be sure to respond to all parts of each question.

1)      What do we know about the narrator of the story?  What details at the start of the story tell us that the events he is about to relate took place many years ago?

2)      What do the narrator’s thoughts and actions reveal about his character?  Is he jealous? Loving? Cruel? Generous?  Cite passages in the story to support your answer.

3)      What do we learn about Doodle’s character when he first visits Old Woman Swamp?

4)      What do we learn about Doodle’s character from the “lies” he tells?  Look closely at his lies and explain what they reveal about Doodle, and the world he’d like to live in versus the world he does live in.

5)      Describe the close relationship of the brothers, focusing on what they both seem to need from the other.

6)      Why does the narrator teach Doodle to walk?  Why does he cry when his family congratulates him for his effort?

7)      After Doodle has learned to walk, what does his brother try to teach him, to prepare him for school?

8)      How does Doodle respond to the scarlet ibis and to its death?  What does this tell us about Doodle?

9)      Why does Doodle die?  To what extent do you think his brother is responsible for his death?  By the end of the story, whom do you pity more—the narrator or Doodle?  Why?

10)  What are the different conflicts in the story?  Be sure to explain at least one external and one internal conflict the narrator deals with, and whether each is ever resolved, and how you know.

11)  In the last sentence, the narrator calls his brother his “fallen scarlet ibis.”  In what ways does the scarlet ibis resemble Doodle?  (Cite at least three examples of connections made between the ibis and Doodle.)  How are their deaths similar—both in appearance and in cause?

12)  What symbols and imagery do you find throughout the story?  What does it add to the story’s mood, style, or meaning?

13)  What tone and mood does the story seem to have?  How does the author establish that tone and mood?

14)  What do you think the theme of the story is? (Remember, a theme is a truth or statement about humans and/or life, not just a single word or phrase.)  Provide sentences from the story that best express what you believe the theme to be (there could be more than one).

15)  The story reveals a truth about the effects of love and pride.  What incidents from life as you know it could illustrate the good and bad effects of human pride?