Worksheets"The Scarlet Ibis" Keystone Questions
Total questions: 15
Worksheet time: 7mins
In line 1 of the story, the speaker says the story takes place in the “clove of seasons,” which means that
it was in between the summer and autumn.
it was the rainy season.
it was the season when clove spice was harvested.
it was the longest day of the year.
Which of the following lines from the story best demonstrates that the story is told in first-person point of view?
"Everybody thought he was going to die."
"'I won't touch it,' he said sullenly."
"It's strange how all this is still so clear to me . . . ."
"ferns unfurled and birds broke into song."
In line 6, the author uses a __________________ to describe the empty nest “rock[ing] back and forth like an empty cradle.”
metaphor
simile
hyperbole
double-entendre
In lines 8-9, when the narrator says that the smell of the “graveyard flowers were… speaking softly the names of our dead,” he is employing ___________.
simile
personification
hyperbole
double entendre
In lines 26-27, the author uses a simile, saying that Doodle’s real name, William Armstrong, “was like tying a big tail on a small kite,” meaning that
Doodle loved kites.
Doodle made a kite that didn’t work because the tail was too long.
the name William Armstrong sounds too grand and formal for such a small, weak boy.
the name Doodle is a nickname,
It is _______________ that someone so small and weak would have such a grand and formal name such as William Armstrong.
symbolic
figurative
ironic
anthropomorphic
"It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable...."
In line 37, the word invalid means
not valid.
incorrect.
dead.
a person who has a severe handicap.
"Although Doodle learned to crawl, he showed no signs of walking, but he wasn't idle. He talked so much that we all quit listening to what he said."
In line 57, the word idle means
something to worship.
silent and lazy.
talkative.
happy and outgoing.
In line 138, Mama begins to cry and runs to Doodle, hugging and kissing him, because
she is sad and knows he is going to die soon.
she is happy that he is still alive.
she is upset that Doodle’s brother showed him his own coffin.
she is happy that he has learned how to walk.
"Once I had succeeded in teaching Doodle to walk, I began to believe in my own infallibility, and I prepared a terrific development program for him...."
In lines 151-152, the narrator’s belief in his own infallibility causes him to
give up on teaching Doodle.
put Doodle back in his go-cart.
push Doodle even harder to learn new activities and skills.
force Doodle to go to school.
As evidenced in lines 146-147, the narrator taught Doodle how to walk because
the narrator wanted to help Doodle fit in with the other kids.
the narrator thought Doodle would die otherwise.
the narrator was ashamed of Doodle not being able to walk.
the narrator wanted to have Doodle on his team in school sports.
In line 167, when the narrator says that he and Doodle “decided to double our efforts, to make that last drive and reach our pot of gold,” the pot of gold is a metaphor for
a prize they are trying to win at school.
Doodle successfully learning how to swim, climb, etc.
The money that their parents promised if they were able to sell the go-cart.
the scarlet ibis.
Which of the following is a paradoxical statement in the text?
“[Doodle] talked so much that we all quit listening to what he said.”
"Pride is a wonderful, terrible thing."
“Hope no longer hid in the dark palmetto thicket but perched like a cardinal in the lacy toothbrush tree, brilliantly visible.”
“I made him swim until he turned red and his eyes became glazed.”
The central conflict in the story is between
the narrator and Doodle.
the narrator and his parents.
the narrator and himself.
Doodle and himself.
In the last paragraph of the story, the reader can infer that the narrator
regrets that his childishness caused him to fail to protect Doodle.
will be charged for a crime in the death of Doodle.
will be able to revive Doodle.
doesn’t understand how Doodle died.
