The Scarlet Ibis

Summary of The Scarlet Ibis

Basically, yesterday we did a tableau for the scarlet ibis. (Scarlet ibis is a name of a book) In case you never read the book before, here is the summary:

The scarlet ibis opens with the narrator reminiscing about the past. He remembered his brother, doodle, as a baby, where nobody expected him to live. Doodle was diagnosed with many health conditions, and according to the narrator's recount, his parents never really showed much affection to him, they only tried to shield him off from the outside world. It was the narrator who took him out all the time after his parents kept telling him to do so. Much of their time was spent at Old Woman's swamp, where the narrator succeeds in teaching doodle how to stand up. After his first feat, the narrator believed that Doodle could be like any ordinary child who could run and swim, despite the warnings given by the mother and the doctor. One day, while they were eating lunch, a scarlet ibis landed in their yard, dead. Doodle felt sorry for the beautiful bird, and decided to bury it. Later that day, they went to the swamp again, and suddenly, a storm broke out and the narrator rushes to get home. He walks faster, and faster, soon leaving his little brother way behind. He hears his brother cry:"'Brother, Brother, don't leave me! Don't leave me!" The narrator however felt a sense of cruelty in his heart and abandoned him. Later, however, he slowed down, peering back, expecting to see Doodle amidst the rain. To his surprise, no Doodle came. He decides to go back, only to see his brother lying dead on the floor...


To read more about the details of the story, visit http://www.answers.com/topic/the-scarlet-ibis-story-1


Tableau- unfortunately I can't get the pictures for the tableau.


What is a Tableau?

A tableau is a group of people attractively arranged. It is just like mime without movement as explained by our LA teacher. It is just a still scene (like pictures) without sound and movement.

These are the important snapshots of the story: (acted out)


• Doodle as a baby - Narrator feels that doodle was not all there and found him a burden.

• Doodle at two - The narrator feels doodle is a part of the family. Doodle begins to crawl and talk constantly.

• Doodle and the go-cart - The narrator feels that doodle is a nuisance and drags him roughly.

• Doodle at five - The narrator is embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn't walk.

• Doodle's sixth birthday - The narrator was very proud to show his family that he taught his brother how to stand.

• Doodle during the storm - The narrator was having a feeling of cruelty and abandoned doodle.


Point of the story:


Besides pure entertainment, the author, James Hurst was also trying to reveal and ugly part of reality. Love is to a certain extent bonded by cruelty. We all know that love means having a mutual understanding and appreciation to who and what we are. However, inside that love, is cruelty. This is unintentional, but the thing is that we love that person so much that we want them to do better, and by achieving that, pushes the person even harder, and sometimes, this might result to cruelty. By pushing them so hard, you might think that you are just doing it for their benefit, not realizing that they reached their limits and are unable to do any better, and even then, you continue to push them, ignoring how they feel or what they say. This depicts the scenario of what happened to the narrator and Doodle during the storm..

Why did the author write the title as The Sarlet Ibis instead of something else?

Interestingly, the author chose to use the title "the scarlet ibis" instead of something else like "My little brother" or something like that. Why? The scarlet ibis is like a symbol of Doodle, it makes the reader remember it better instead of reading it once, feel sorry about it, and move on. This title that he chose provokes the emotions of the reader, and it makes the story more rememberable. It makes the reader really think and reflect on what he just read.