the author's descriptions. Remember, too, that setting is more than where a story takes place, and this story takes place during the "blighted" summer, with the hurricane bringing down trees and ruining crops." In addition, the devastation of the setting seems to foreshadow the destructive effects that Brother's pushing Doodle beyond his limits.

Be sure to check out the link below for more information on the setting and the specific effects of setting, especially Old Woman Swamp.

The setting is in the American south. The author is very spare in the details of setting, yet I believe from what I have read that it is in Florida, or Mississippi. The talk of hurricanes and swamps seem to point to this.

The overall setting of this short story is North Carolina in the early 1900s. We get a sense of this geography through the mention of 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.

The location of the setting of "The Scarlet Ibis" is never specified, but author James Hurst made his home in North Carolina and many of his other stories were set in the state, so it is safe to assume that Doodle's family lived there as well. Places like Horsehead Landing and Old Woman Swamp would fit perfectly in the lowland areas of coastal North Carolina, and there is also the mention of "the sound of the sea" and tidal waters. When the exotic bird appears at Doodle's home, his father rushes for the "bird book," and they determine it is a scarlet ibis:

"It lives in the tropics--South America to Florida. A storm must have brought it here."

The bird has traveled far out of its habitat, and North Carolina would be a likely destination for the lost ibis.

As for the time period, the main part of the story takes place in the summer and early autumn of 1918. Brother does tell his tale in retrospect, so from beginning to end, the short story may encompass several decades.

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.

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.