Definitions
This is the author/narrator's inferred feelings about the subject matter of the text.
What is tone?
The narrator gives more attention to this while on his date in The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant.
What is fishing?
This is the internal conflict the narrator of "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant" faces on his date.
What is internally battling between wanting to fish and keep his fishing a secret from Sheila Mant?
The narrator refers to the "dog days" of teaching Doodle the harder skills of running, climbing, swimming, etc. in the text. Dog days refer to these.
What are hard/challenging times?
The river in the story stands in for this bigger idea in "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant."
What is our path in life?
This is the reader's feelings about the subject matter of the text.
What is mood?
This is the place where Doodle and his older brother spend most of their days.
What is Old Woman Swamp?
This is the first act that the narrator teaches his brother in "The Scarlet Ibis."
What is to walk?
When on the way to ask Sheila out, he says he was "as bashful and frightened as a unicorn." This figurative language device explains his unfamiliar feelings of asking a girl out.
What is a simile?
This symbol foreshadows the later death of Doodle.
What is the scarlet ibis?
This is the author's choice and arrangement of words.
What is diction?
This is the bodily cause of Doodle's death.
What is his weak heart?
The reader knows that Sheila can be described as this based on her dialogue to the narrator in the canoe.
What is seld-absorbed/conceited?
The narrator says his spool peeled off with the "tearing sip of a high-speed drill." He is using this figurative language device to explain the sound and speed of his line unraveling.
What is a metaphor?
If the river symbolizes life, then the fish symbolize this in "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant."
What is all of the potential partners for the narrator? OR What is passion?
What is symbolism?
This is who Sheila Mant leaves with after the concert in Dixford.
Who is Eric Caswell?
The narrator blames his mistreatment of Doodle on this in reflecting back on his childhood.
What is pride?
The imagery in the exposition of "The Scarlet Ibis" focuses on this.
What is death?
This is what Doodle's lie symbolizes that he wants out of life.
What is admiration/attention/care?
This is the universal life lesson a text teaches the reader.
What is theme?
This part of the plot pyramid occurs when the narrator leaves Doodle behind in the rain storm.
What is the climax?
The narrator of "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant" can be described as this in his preparation for his date with Sheila.
What is detail-oriented/thoughtful?
The narrator compares the tuggings of his heart (desires) to what in the following lines: "this was another tug on my heart, not just the bass, but the beat of the river and the slant of the stars and the smell of the night."
What is nature/the outdoors/the rivers, stars, and smell of night?
"The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant" covers the topic of passion and learning from mistakes. This is a full theme for the story.
What is not giving up your passion for something trivial, or that does not matter in the long-run?
What is that each mistake helps us learn and get close to our true purpose in life?