The Scarlet Ibis

Written from the perspective of the unnamed elder brother, “The Scarlet Ibis” offers readers a glimpse into the narrator’s past while simultaneously allowing for an older and wiser narrator to impose his own gloss on events. The narrator begins by recalling the past in first-person narration: “It’s strange that all this is still so clear to me, now that summer has long since fled and time has had its way” (48). This statement allows the reader to vicariously experience the story, aware that the events occurred long ago, and that life has changed for the protagonist. Throughout the narrative, past tense verbs and numerous asides signal that the central actions of the story are complete and can only be contemplated from the vantage point of the present. The narrator, for instance, notes that the pride he took in teaching Doodle to walk and the ultimate failure of his role as a brother was something he did not understand at the time: “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death” (50). The narrator, in hindsight, recognizes his relationship with Doodle as bound up in his boyish notion of pride, which motivated him to help his brother experience life more fully but also led to Doodle’s death.