Question

read the excerpt from \the scarlet ibis.\ doodle was frightened of being left. \dont go leave me, brother,\ he cried, and he leaned toward the coffin. his hand, trembling, reached out, and when he touched the casket he screamed. a screech owl flapped out of the box into our faces, scaring us so i um on my shoulder and carried him down, covering him with paris green. doodle was paralyzed, and when we were outside in the bright sunshine, he clung to me, crying, \dont leave me. dont leave me.\ what do doodles repeated pleas of \dont leave me\ foreshadow? \bigcirc once the narrator returns to school, he leaves doodle at home and forgets all of his plans to help him. \bigcirc after doodle refuses to touch the casket, the narrator refuses to help doodle and leaves him alone in the loft. \bigcirc later in the story, the narrator races ahead and leaves doodle to struggle behind during a terrible storm. \bigcirc when doodle struggles to learn to walk, the narrator leaves and doodle is left sitting alone in old woman swamp.

Explanation:

To determine what Doodle’s repeated “Don’t leave me” foreshadows, we analyze each option:

• First option: The excerpt shows Doodle’s fear of being left, but there’s no indication the narrator forgets plans to help. The focus is on Doodle’s anxiety about abandonment, not the narrator’s memory of plans. Eliminate.
• Second option: The excerpt has Doodle reaching for the narrator (touching the casket, being carried), showing the narrator does help initially. The idea that the narrator refuses to help and leaves after Doodle refuses the casket is inconsistent with the excerpt’s depiction of the narrator carrying Doodle. Eliminate.
• Third option: Foreshadowing involves hints of future events. Doodle’s repeated pleas about not being left hint at a future event where he is left. A storm later (common in the story’s climax) and the narrator racing ahead, leaving Doodle to struggle, aligns with the fear of abandonment shown in the pleas. This is a likely foreshadowing.
• Fourth option: The excerpt’s pleas are about not being left generally, not specifically about being left in the Old Woman Swamp while learning to walk. The context of the pleas is broader (fear of being left, like with the casket, outside in sunshine) than just the swamp during walking lessons. Eliminate.

Answer:

C. Later in the story, the narrator races ahead and leaves Doodle to struggle behind during a terrible storm.