The Scarlet Ibis Plot Analysis | 台北市立動物園資訊網

HelpingyouunderstandPlotAnalysisinTheScarletIbisbyJamesHurst-but,inafunway.

The story opens with Brother remembering the scarlet ibis in the "bleeding tree" (1). This frames the story as a memory. We know that the events Brother describes happened in the past, though we dont know exactly how far back in the past. We also know that the memory is about Doodle, though we dont know what Doodle and the ibis have to do with each other, yet.

As we discuss in "Writing Style" a story with a frame is considered a story within a story. The fact that Brother is remembering something is one story. What he is remembering is another story. Here we are focusing on the plot structure of that second story, the story in Brothers memory, which begins when Doodle is born, when Brother is six. Baby Doodle is born with some physical problems, though we arent, initially, given any details on these problems. Most of th...