Read the excerpt from “The Scarlet Ibis.”

Question

Doodle was frightened of being left. “Don’t 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 and covering us with Paris green. Doodle was paralyzed, so I put him on my shoulder and carried him down the ladder, and even when we were outside in the bright sunshine, he clung to me, crying, “Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me.”

What do Doodle’s repeated pleas of “Don’t leave me” foreshadow?

Once the narrator returns to school, he leaves Doodle at home and forgets all of his plans to help him.
After Doodle refuses to touch the casket, the narrator refuses to help Doodle and leaves him alone in the loft.
Later in the story, the narrator races ahead and leaves Doodle to struggle behind during a terrible storm.
When Doodle struggles to learn to walk, the narrator leaves and Doodle is left sitting alone in Old Woman Swamp.

Answer 1

Doodle’s repeated pleas of “Don’t leave me” foreshadow the later events in the story where the narrator, in moments of frustration and pride, ultimately distances himself from Doodle. The most fitting option that aligns with this foreshadowing is:

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

This event highlights the narrator's growing impatience and desire to distance himself from Doodle, which ties back to Doodle's fear of abandonment expressed in this excerpt.