Theme Annotations - “The Scarlet Ibis” Task 1: Reread the following excerpt from “The Scarlet Ibis.”

Task 2: In the box below, state what theme is represented within this excerpt. (Reminder: Theme should be a complete statement, not a single word.)
The theme of “The Scarlet Ibis” is that one should accept people irrespective of their differences and expectations of them.

Task 3: Annotate three pieces of evidence that support the theme you identified in task 2. In the annotation column, explain how the evidence relates to the theme.

Task 4: In the box below, write a six sentence summary of the excerpt (not the entire story). Be sure to include all major details. Summary should be in your own words.
In the story, Doodle was treated differently. Inasmuch the bird was, the bird was exotic and unique like doodle.
Unfortunately, the whole story was as if he was disregarded by his family. The only person who treated him with respect and overlooked his differences was his brother. Doodle did the same with the bird, the bird. Doodle and the bird symbolize so much of the story. To progress my point, the expectation of doodle from his family overruled the love that they should’ve given him and neglected him, treating him like a peasant.

** Be sure to highlight/underline/bold the part of the text that corresponds to your annotation.

“The Scarlet Ibis” Excerpt
Annotations
As soon as I had finished eating, Doodle and I hurried off to Horsehead Landing. Time was short, and Doodle still had a long way to go if he was going to keep up with the other boys when he started school. The sun, gilded with the yellow cast of autumn, still burned fiercely, but the dark green woods through which we passed were shady and cool. When we reached the landing, Doodle said he was too tired to swim, so we got into a skiff and floated down the creek with the tide. Far off in the marsh a rail was scolding, and over on the beach locusts were singing in the myrtle trees. Doodle did not speak and kept his head turned away, letting one hand trail limply in the water.
After we had drifted a long way, I put the oars in place and made Doodle row back against the tide. Black clouds began to gather in the southwest, and he kept watching them, trying to pull the oars a little faster. When we reached Horsehead Landing, lightning was playing across half the sky and thunder roared out, hiding even the sound of the sea. The sun disappeared and darkness descended, almost like night. Flocks of marsh crows flew by, heading inland to their roosting trees, and two egrets, squawking, arose from the oyster-rock shallows and careened away.
Doodle was both tired and frightened, and when he stepped from the skiff he collapsed onto the mud, sending an armada of fiddler crabs rustling off into the marsh grass. I helped him up, and as he wiped the mud off his trousers, he smiled at me ashamedly. He had failed and we both knew it, so we started back home, racing the storm. We never spoke (what are the words that can solder cracked pride?), but I knew he was watching me, watching for a sign of mercy. The lightning was near now, and from fear he walked so close behind me he kept stepping on my heels. The faster I walked, the faster he walked, so I began to run. The rain was coming, roaring through the pines, and then, like a bursting Roman candle, a gum tree ahead of us was shattered by a bolt of lightning. When the deafening peal of thunder had died, and in the moment before the rain arrived, I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind, cry out, “Brother, Brother, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!”
The knowledge that Doodle’s and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awakened. I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us. The drops stung my face like nettles, and the wind flared the wet, glistening leaves of the bordering trees. Soon I could hear his voice no more.
I hadn’t run too far before I became tired, and the flood of childish spite evanesced as well. I stopped and waited for Doodle. The sound of rain was everywhere, but the wind had died and it fell straight down in parallel paths like ropes hanging from the sky.