Brother, the narrator of the story, returns home to the farm, and as the story begins, is reminiscing about his brother, Doodle, and Doodle’s tragic death.  Although we are not told Brother’s age at the time of the flashback, he is an older man reflecting on when he was younger and how his pride caused the downfall of Doodle.  We know that the farm has changed as Brother sits in the parlor and looks out the window at the yard.  The bleeding tree where the scarlet ibis perched is gone, the garden is clean and taken care of, and the once rickety fence stands straight in the yard.  Like the grindstone that turns in the front yard, time has moved on as well. 

In the flashback, Brother is six years old when Doodle is born.  That is quite an age difference between the two brothers, and we find out that Brother pushes Doodle beyond his capabilities because he wants him to be “normal” and do the things he does like run, jump, and swim. 

Because of the flashback structure of the story, we meet Brother as a young child and as an older man.

The narrator in the story is actually Doodle's big brother as and adult telling the story. The story begins using adult language and syntax, but as he slips into telling us about his childhood memories of Doodle he begins to take on a childlike persona and the mood and tone of the story change. The begins to sound very much like a child is telling it about his younger brother at the time things are happening. This is actually a very clever way of writing the story because we get some insights from the adult narrator that we might not have gotten had the story actually been told by the child himself. For example, at several different places in the story Doodle's brother expresses his remorse for the way he treats Doodle, like leaving him in the loft knowing Doodle couldn't climb down the ladder without help. The narrator recalls how he felt at the time and how he felt after having heard Doodle's screams.

Old enough to be an independant big brother, but young enough to not know the limitations of youth.  The narrator is able to ignore the warnings of the doctors and his parents regarding Doodle because he doesn't have the life experiences to tell him what's dangerous and what's not.  He's still naive enough to think everything will always be ok.  But we also know that he's old enough to be trusted in caring for his physical handicapped little brother.  He takes Doodle everywhere and is even encouraged by his parents to take Doodle as a tag-a-long.  I guess his exact age is really up to you, but those would be some good guidelines to follow.

Who is the narrator of the story in "The Scarlet Ibis"?

The narrator of “The Scarlet Ibis” is Doodle’s older brother.

The narrator of the story is Doodle’s older brother. He is never actually named.  This way the story has a first person limited narrator.  This means that first person pronouns are used, including “I” and “my.”

The story describes when the narrator’s younger brother was born until when he died.  We can tell that the narrator cares about his brother, although things are not easy from the start.  The story is told from the first person perspective of the brother, but we never learn his name.

Doodle was born when I was seven and was, from the start, a disappointment. He seemed all head, with a tiny body that was red and shriveled like an old man's. Everybody thought he was going to die.

So this brother is seven years older than Doodle, which is quite a difference of years.  He immediately gives his brother the nickname Doodle because his name is so serious, good only for a tombstone (William Armstrong).  Doodle calls him “Brother,” which is kind of formal.  Why doesn’t he call him by his name?   Brother does not call Doodle Brother.  He calls him Doodle.  This nickname came from the fact that Doodle looks like a Doodle bug crawling around backward.

Brother and Doodle belong to different worlds, and Doodle is never physically active.  He slowly learns to crawl and walk, but Brother keeps pushing him.  He always seems disappointed in the brother he follows him like a shadow.

"Oh, you can walk." I took him by the arms and stood him up. He collapsed on to the grass like a half-empty flour sack. It was as if his little legs had no bones.

"Don't hurt me, Brother."

Brother scoffs at the thought of hurting Doodle, but in the end he does hurt him.  Doodle pushes too hard for his brother’s approval, and it ends up killing him.  He goes out with Brother, and Brother leaves him behind.  Doodle cannot walk anymore, and he collapses, like the scarlet ibis.

Brother is a good brother in some ways.  He pushes his brother to achieve more than anyone thinks he can do.  However, in some ways, he is harsh and unfeeling.  He does not show enough compassion.  He causes his brother’s death with his callousness, pushing him too hard and not coming back for him.

Who is the narrator of the story in "The Scarlet Ibis"?

The story is told by a first-person narrative told by the brother of Doodle. However, Brother is looking back from an adult's perspective when he tells the story and thus has the advantage of hindsight. He is able to see the consequences of his actions which serve as a warning to other to accept people as they are.