The opening recalls "summer was dead" and the ibis in a "bleeding tree." What does this setting most strongly symbolize?

When Doodle is a baby, his father has a small coffin built, and it stays in the barn loft for years. What does the coffin symbolize?

At Old Woman Swamp, Doodle cries because the place is beautiful. What does the swamp symbolize for him?

Doodle is born "red and shriveled," and later his shirt is stained "brilliant red" when he dies. What does the repeated red suggest?

Before Doodle dies, a storm breaks as the narrator runs ahead and leaves him behind. What does the storm symbolize?

The opening says an oriole nest rocked "like an empty cradle." What does that image symbolize?

The adult narrator says that as the grindstone turns, "time with all its changes is ground away—and I remember Doodle." What does this moment signal?

The narrator says, "There is within me...a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love." What does adult hindsight add?

The narrator admits, "I did not know then that pride is...a seed that bears two vines, life and death." What does hindsight reveal?

After Doodle learns to walk, the family praises the narrator. Looking back, he says, "They did not know that I did it for myself." What does this admission reveal?

At the end, the adult narrator remembers sheltering Doodle's body from the rain. What does this hindsight emphasize?

The narrator says, “I was embarrassed at having a brother...who couldn’t walk.” What does this line reveal?

The narrator says renaming his brother was perhaps the kindest thing he did, because "nobody expects much from someone called Doodle." What does this reveal?

The narrator says having a brother who "possibly was not all there" was "unbearable." What does this reveal about him?

During hard training, the narrator says, "I made him swim until he turned blue." What does this reveal?

As the storm comes, Doodle cries, “Brother, Brother, don’t leave me!” What shame does this line create for the narrator?

The scarlet ibis falls from a tree, its neck straightens, and it dies far from its tropical home. How is the bird linked to Doodle?

Doodle insists on burying the dead ibis while others watch. How does this action link him to the bird?

Before the storm, the family watches the scarlet ibis fall from the bleeding tree and die. What literary device does the bird’s death serve as for the story’s ending?

The narrator calls Doodle “my fallen scarlet ibis” as he shields him from rain. What does this metaphor do?