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| Neb English Support Class 12 |
The Scarlet Ibis | James Hurst | Summary and Questions and Answers | Neb English Support Class 12
The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst
ABOUT STORY
Full Plot Summary
The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst
This story starts with the narrator remembering a time when he was a child. He's sitting in his childhood house, thinking about the day an ibis landed in a tree in the yard. Then he starts telling a story from when he was six. In the story, his family welcomes a new baby brother named William Armstrong, who is born with physical disabilities. Everyone, including his parents and the doctor, expects the baby to die.
In the family, only Aunt Nicey believes that the baby will survive. She notes that the baby was born with a bit of membrane around the head called a "caul". Aunt Nicey claims this is made from "Jesus’ nightgown" and predicts that the baby will live. However, the father is so convinced that the baby won't make it that he even asks a carpenter to make a small casket in preparation for the baby's expected death.
But the boy manages to survive his early years. The older brother, who is the narrator of the story, hopes for a younger brother to play with him. However, his mother cautions that the younger brother might not be fully cognitively able. She thinks the child might have learning challenges. Surprisingly, the boy turns out to be mentally sharp, and he eventually learns to talk and communicate. The older brother affectionately calls him "Doodle" because, as a baby, he used to crawl backward like a doodlebug larva. Despite surviving and crawling, Doodle still can't walk and probably never will.
Doodle, the younger brother, calls his older brother "Brother." Brother is given the responsibility of pulling Doodle around in a special wagon because Doodle can't walk. At first, Brother finds this task annoying and even tries to scare Doodle by racing around and tipping the wagon. Doodle is delicate, but Brother doesn't consider that. Over time, Doodle's kind nature wins over Brother, and they start spending enjoyable days together at their favourite spot, Old Woman Swamp, making necklaces and crowns from wildflowers.
One day, Brother shows Doodle the small coffin box - the same box that his family got when he was born. The box is in the barn loft, covered in rat poison, and has become a home for owls. Brother says it's Doodle's coffin, but Doodle disagrees with his views. In a mean move, Brother makes Doodle touch the box, scaring him and making an owl fly out. Doodle is so scared that even after they come back down the ladder, he keeps begging his brother not to leave him in the barn loft.
Both Brother and Doodle spend lots of time in Old Woman Swamp, playing under a tall pine tree. When Doodle is five years old, his brother tries to teach him to walk so he can be a healthy brother who doesn't need to be carried everywhere. Doodle thinks it's impossible, but Brother persuades him a lot to give it a shot. They struggle to get Doodle to stand, and Doodle often feels discouraged. To motivate him, Brother paints a picture of them as old men, with Doodle still stuck in a cart. This sad image encourages Doodle a lot to keep trying.
After lots of practice and efforts in Old Woman Swamp, the brothers succeed in getting Doodle to walk. The family doesn't know about this, and on Doodle's sixth birthday, the brothers surprise everyone in the party with a demonstration. Doodle walks from his cart to the dining table chair. Everyone gets emotional. They cry and hug Doodle. Brother feels really proud and starts to believe that Doodle can achieve anything.
After that, Brother begins a tough plan to teach Doodle how to swim, row a boat, run, and climb on swamp vines, like other boys do. Their continuous progress is stopped by a drought and a huge hurricane. The hurricane wrecks all the trees in the yard and crops in the fields. Both Doodle and Brother see their father getting angry at the weather for ruining his crops.
The incident doesn't stop them much, and the both of them keep working on Doodle's physical skills, even though it's clear that he has limitations. They don't make much progress towards Brother's goals. Brother wants his brother Doodle to be able to swim and climb by the end of the summer, just before Doodle starts school.
One Saturday during lunch, at the end of summer, the entire family heard a strange sound outside. It's the cry of a scarlet ibis, a red bird not from around there, with long legs and drooping wings. The bird sits in a tree and seems clearly sick. While the family watches, the bird falls from the tree and dies in front of them. Doodle becomes really upset and insists on burying the delicate red bird. The boys' dad looks up the bird in a book and says it probably got blown far north by a storm, away from its usual home. The bird didn't have much chance of surviving so far from where it should be. The family watches through a window as Doodle struggles to bury the red bird in the flower garden. Doodle takes the burial very seriously and feels solemn after finishing the task. Aunt Nicey believes that dead birds bring a kind of bad luck.
That afternoon, Brother takes Doodle to the creek to swim, but Doodle is tired, so they end up rowing a boat instead. The boys want to finish Doodle's training before school starts, but he's clearly behind. As Doodle struggles with the oars, a storm comes. They manage to get back to the landing, but the storm is right behind them. A tree in their path is shattered by lightning, and the rain starts pouring down. Doodle is scared and tries to keep up, but Brother is annoyed at Doodle's lack of ability.
Feeling frustrated with Doodle's struggles, Brother starts running faster despite Doodle begging him not to leave. Brother leaves Doodle behind, runs back to check, and finds Doodle crouched under a tree. Trying to wake him up, Brother sees blood from Doodle's mouth, and Doodle won't respond. Doodle's efforts to keep up have taken a toll, and Brother cries over Doodle's hurt body in the heavy rain.
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