The Scarlet Ibis Group

Topic: Remorse

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1

Brother is retelling events happened in his life. Do you think that he does that out of remorse? 

2

Oh, absolutely. If he felt no remorse, he might have told the story but not included the part where he abandons Doodle. He felt remorseful almost as soon as he turned away from his brother. He did go back to try to help him.

3

Then, how can you sense that in the story? I mean what clues reveal that feeling in the side of Brother?

4

susanneh

It's called selection of details and statement of theme.  The brother repeatedly states that Doodle's death is the result of the narrator's pride and selfishness.  "a vine that bares to fruit"  "at times I was mean to Doodle"  it was pride that made the brother teach Doodle to walk....  Consider the details the narrator includes in his tale....he clearly accepts responsibility for his actions.....

5

mshurn

In reply to #1:

One way to understand a character is to look at what the character says, of course. Another good way is to look at what the character does. Sometimes actions do speak louder than words.

First, the narrator returns to the scene. Years after the events of the story, Brother goes back to the home where he and Doodle lived when Doodle died. He sits outside in the yard and remembers. He wouldn't do this if he was not still troubled by Doodle's death.

At the end of the story, when he finds Doodle's lifeless body, he weeps, screams, and throws his body over Doodle's, to protect him from the rain. The last thing the narrator tells us is that he lay there crying for a very long time. What Brother does tells us how he felt.

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