places like the cotton field and the swamp. Within the backdrop of the American South, there are several more specific locations where the action of the story takes place—in and around the narrator's childhood home.

To begin with, the narrator first mentions that in his present-day, he sits remembering the story's events from his "cool green parlor" (1). None of the scenes of the plot happen here, but it is the frame within which the memories of the events emerge, a space of calm distanced from the turmoil of the past.

The childhood home is where the real events of the story are centered; the interior where they grow up, the breakfast table where Doodle walks in front of his parents for the first time, and the yard where the scarlet ibis falls from the bleeding tree. This area is the characters' home base: where they begin and where they presumably, eventually, return.

Across the cotton field from the house is Old Woman Swamp, the secluded pocket of Southern wild in which the narrator teaches Doodle to stand and to walk. The solitude and isolation of the swamp are what allow it to be a place of learning and teaching; the narrator benefits because his shame in his brother can be solved in private, and Doodle benefits because he has a hidden place in which to slowly make progress before showing the rest of the world what he can do.

The story climaxes and concludes while journeying to and from Horsehead Landing. This is the place where the narrator wants to teach Doodle to swim, and it is a place we only hear about briefly, as the relevant action happens while on the way there and back. Most importantly, it is the place from which Doodle will never return.

Between the Landing and the house is a sort of nature no-man's-land, a space between spaces that is open to the weather and must be braved in order to reach the destinations on either side. The narrator makes the decision to walk there with Doodle although harsh weather is on the way and return by running through the rain. It is here, stranded out in a storm, that the narrator runs home without waiting for Doodle, returning later to retrieve him and finding that his brother has become yet another fallen scarlet ibis.

Since Doodle dies in 1918—"That summer, the summer of 1918, was blighted—" we understand that the story takes place from about 1911 to 1918, the years leading up to and including the United States's entry into World War I.

The geographic setting is the rural South, probably North Carolina, as that is where Hurst spent his childhood and because of a reference to Dix Hill, a hospital in North Carolina.

The cultural surround is a faded rural South focused on a family that has not quite entered the modern world of the twentieth century. Doodle is delivered at home by Aunt Nicey, and superstitions surround his birth. Because he is disabled, the family expects Doodle to die and builds a small coffin for him, showing acceptance of the harsh blows that fall. There is a sense of old-fashioned fatalism surrounding his survival, and no effort is made to find modern medical interventions to improve his life. He is loved and cared for by the family, but the culture seems to dictate that he must take his chances and the chips will fall where they will, a form of benign Social Darwinism.

Hurst creates local color and a sense of a family living in fading past with images of Old Woman Swamp, the nearby cotton fields, and the flower garden neglected and overgrown. Nature seems to be ever encroaching on this family that lives simply and in seeming poverty without amenities that were becoming more common in the early 1900s, such as cars and telephones.

“The Scarlet Ibis,” by James Hurst was set in the south from around 1915 to 1918. The people of this rural area would have been used to the privations that accompanied war, as this story takes place near the end of World War I. There is even a reference in the story to an area individual who had been in the war. Consequently, the idea of being strong would have been uppermost in many people’s minds. This could explain in part, why Doodle’s brother was so adamant about teaching him to be normal so that he would not be an embarrassment.

Author James Hurst never specifically gives a location of Doodle's home in "The Scarlet Ibis," but since Hurst hailed from North Carolina and many of his short stories are set there, we can assume that this story takes place in the Tar Heel State. Horsehead Landing (apparently a fictitious waterway), where Doodle and his big brother spend much of their time, is probably near the Carolina coast. The time period is definite, however: The narrator's story takes place in the summer of 1918, and there are also specific World War I battles mentioned. The atmosphere of the setting provides sub-tropical weather conditions with lowland areas such as Old Woman Swamp nearby; a hurricane hits the area, bringing with it the scarlet ibis. The atmosphere is a peaceful one for the boys, who spend most of their time outside, daydreaming about one day living in the swamp and spending time together under the umbrella tree. The moods swing from hopeless (after Doodle's birth and during some of his early failures with Brother) to hopeful (as Doodle makes progress physically) to ecstatic (when he finally learns to walk), but the arrival of the "red, dead bird" brings an aura of foreboding that signals that Doodle's end is near.

The background setting of World War I is essential to the short story "The Scarlet Ibis" because it connects to the theme. The author, James Hurst, wanted readers of his short story to consider how the war fought among "brothers" in Europe paralleled the conflict between Doodle and his brother. Hurst felt that there is always harm done when people try to force others to transform into images of themselves, whether within a family or among countries.

It is only after many months of working with Doodle, teaching him to swim and row a boat, that the brother finally realizes that the small boy will never compete with others as an equal. In bitter disappointment, the brother hurries ahead of Doodle after the rowing lesson despite Doodle's cries not to leave him. Finally, because of his exhaustion, the brother stops and waits for Doodle. When Doodle does not appear, the brother retraces his steps and, unfortunately, finds Doodle sitting with his face buried in his arms that rest on his bent legs. Like the scarlet ibis that dropped from the tree, Doodle is dead. He has bled from his mouth, and the front of his shirt is scarlet with his blood. In his shame, the brother then shelters his "fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of the rain." Tragically, it is only then that the brother recognizes the rare and beautiful qualities of Doodle, finally understanding that his efforts to remake his brother have been not only wrong but devastating.

His misplaced shame in Doodle, rather than an appreciation for the magical ibis-rarity of the boy, is what leads the brother to the destruction of the delicate creature. Likewise, in war the beautiful artifacts and structures of a country are also lost. The country's identity is attacked and people lose much of what they love as their culture is challenged.

"The Scarlet Ibis" takes place in 1918, during World War I. This is made clear in the text when the narrator, Brother, talks about hearing "strange names" through the house. These names, like "Amiens" and "Soissons" refer to places in France where wartime fighting took place.

The story also makes reference to the number of American casualties as a result of this war. At the dinner table, for instance, Mama blesses the Pearson family, who have just lost a son at "Bellau Wood," another battle site in France.

The war in France, perhaps, resembles the war that Doodle is fighting at home as he tries to overcome his sickness and learn to walk. Just like many of the U.S. soldiers fighting overseas, however, Doodle is unable to overcome the numerous hurdles he faces and loses his life at the end of the story. 

If we read the story carefully, we can see that the date of when the story is set is provided for us. The action of the story is set during World War I, and there is a parallel between the way in which war led to the death of numerous soldiers that America was forced to watch helplessly die just as Doodle suffered and died. Note the following quote from the story that makes the timing of the setting of the story clear:

That summer, the summer of 1918, was blighted... And during that summer, strange names were heard through the house: Chateau-Thierry, Amiens, Soissons, and in her blessing at the supper table, Mama once said, "And bless the Pearsons, whose boy Joe was lost in Belleau Wood."

We see that whilst Doodle and the narrator struggle to train Doodle and to make him more physically active, at the same time another kind of conflict is occurring and intruding upon their lives, even though it is so far away. The year is clearly given, and the references to famous battles in Europe adds to this impact.

The mention of the time of year ("the death of summer") and World War I (dubbed "the war to end all wars") as a chain of events in this literary work is used as an artistic expression that establishes relationships to emotion in the story. 

It is apparent that James Hurst employs much symbolism in his short story, "The Scarlet Ibis." For, in this narrative, Hurst makes mention of the death of summer--the"clove of seasons"--the blight upon the cotton crop, World War I, and the storm that hurls both the scarlet ibis and the awkward and weak boy to their deaths. It would seem, then, that the war, the blight, and the storms are the objective correlatives for what occurs within the hearts of the father, and, especially the brother. 

Thus, throughout the story, there is much foreshadowing of death that pervades the mood of the narrative with ominous reminders that things are not going to end well. Always there is a private war within the heart of the brother, as well as a war between Doodle and him, who admits cruelty on numerous occasions: "I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow," and 

There is within me...a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction...

When he is told to not excite Doodle and treat him carefully, he "ignored [the admonitions] once we got out of the house"; when he teaches Doodle to walk, it is for himself that he does this--"that pride, whose slave I was." Doodle constantly wants his brother to take care of him--"Don't leave me"--but warring emotions and the blight of pride and cruelty strike the heart of the brother, causing him to allow the storm to finally take his "scarlet ibis," that delicate, weak-hearted, awkward creature, from him and his family. Clearly, then, the setting of the death of summer, the world war, the blight, and the storm are concrete representations of the turbulent and cruel emotions of the brother.

"The Scarlet Ibis" starts out with the following line:

"It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born. . ."

Brother is writing the story from a future moment in time after the death of his little brother Doodle. As stated above, summer has ended, but fall hasn't completely come in. This reminds him of when Doodle was born in the fall of 1911 and also when he died in 1918, right before school started that year. The seasons prompt him to tell the story of his little brother's life and struggles with physical disabilities that stemmed from birth defects.

The story is set in the American South, somewhere near swamps because a favorite place for the brothers to visit is called Old Woman Swamp. The family lives on a farm because the summer of 1918 is described as follows:

". . . the summer of 1918, was blighted. In May and June there was no rain and the crops withered, curled up, then died under the thirsty sun. One morning n July a hurricane came out of the east, tipping over the oaks in the yard and splitting the limbs of the elm trees."

Hence, the summers are discussed in detail because farmers depend on the success of the growing seasons for their livelihood. Summer is also the time when Brother teaches Doodle to swim, walk and run. It is right at the end of summer that Doodle is born and also dies 6 and a half years later.

There are many clues to the setting of “The Scarlet Ibis” throughout the short story.  Most of them have to do with nature, climate, and the environment.  We can place the story in the region of the South because of the following descriptions:

• Brother and Doodle’s father is a cotton farmer and his crop is destroyed by a violent storm early in the story.
• Flowers and trees mentioned in the story and indigenous to the South are magnolias, saw tooth ferns, palmetto fronds, cypress trees
• Brother and Doodle play in Old Woman Swamp
• Descriptions of the house—parlor, piazza—indicate a southern style house
• The summers are hot and the storms coming from the sea are violent.
• Adults are called Miss Leedie and Aunt Nicey and are representative of southern titles of respect.
• Superstitions like Doodle’s caul and the sign that the dead scarlet ibis is bad luck can also represent a southern tradition of superstitions.