Did anyone read the scarlet iris?

need notes and analyzing please!



=)

Did anyone read the scarlet iris?
1. The story explores pride and its complications; because the narrator is proud of himself and is humiliated by his brother’s limits, he becomes cruel to Doodle

2. A positive of pride is seen when the narrator teaches Doodle how to walk.

3. The story, however, focuses on the negative side of pride, seen in the end, when the narrator’s pride invades and Doodle is left all alone. This is the moment when he dies.

4. The narrator loves his brother Doodle, but it is a love mutated by shame, which leads to malice.

5. In the story, setting seems to echo the plot. For example, the wet storm seems to relate to Doodle’s tragic death.

6. Unlike his brother, Doodle’s love for his own brother is pure, demonstrated in the casket scene when he is panicked when faced with being separated from his brother

7. Doodle’s persistence in trying to make his brother proud goes unseen. This is one of many recurring elements in the story.

8. Another recurring element is color, seen here in the story to describe emotions. For example, in the exposition (which takes place after Doodle’s death), white represents dying memories. “Silvery”, “white”, and “pale” are all examples of how the house seems faded.

9. The expectations of people are also an element in the story. Every person has a certain expectations of Doodle’s abilities: his brother, for example, holds expectations too high for Doodle, ultimately the reason for his death.

10. One of the symbols in the story is an implicit one; the scarlet ibis represents determination at a high cost. It attempts to fly off the branch, but dies while trying, just like Doodle.

11. Another symbol is the caul, which represents sanctity and life, and is plainly mentioned by Aunt Nicey.

12. The bleeding tree foreshadows death—every time the bleeding tree is mentioned, either the bird dies or Doodle.

13. When Doodle touches his own casket, it foreshadows to the reader that he will die in the end.

14. A crucial simile in the story is when the narrator compares Doodle’s success to “a pot of gold in the end of summer”. Without knowing it, the narrator references to Doodle’s perseverance.
Reply:You'll want to do a close reading (or two or three) and pay attention to the following:



1) repetition of the color red

2) how the bleeding tree is used

3) the parallel between Doodle and the scarlet ibis

4) use of plant imagery

5) the use of flashback (look carefully at the first three paragraphs, where the tense shifts)



Other ideas to explore:



1) pride vs. love

2) Can Doodle escape the fact that everyone expects him to die?

3) The concept of rain as a "heresy" in the final paragraphs.

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