SI Prereading

​Terms to remember

Tone Imagery
Diction Foreshadowing
Simile Theme
Personification Characterization
All the parts of Plot Character Motivation
Conflict - Internal/External Point of View

It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born, that the ibis lit in the bleeding tree. The flower garden was strained with rotting brown magnolia petals and ironweeds grew rank amid the purple phlox. The five o'clocks by the chimney still marked time, but the oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and rocked back and forth like an empty cradle. The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking softly the names of our dead.

It's strange that all this is still so clear to me, now that summer has long since fled and time has had its way. A grindstone stands where the bleeding tree stood, just outside the kitchen door, and now if an oriole sings in the elm, its song seems to die up in the leaves, a silvery dust. The flower garden is prim, the house a gleaming white, and the pale fence across the yard stands straight and spruce. But sometimes (like right now), as I sit in the cool, green-draped parlor, the grindstone begins to turn, and time with all its changes is ground away-and I remember Doodle.

An abrasive tool used to grind items such as sharpening a sword or knife.

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​Grindstone

A tree that has blood-red sap.

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​Bleeding Tree

There is a big storm three times in the story...do you think that is significant?

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Storms

A bird that lives in more tropical regions.

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​A Scarlet Ibis

Notice how often red is used and what it might symbolize.
-P.S. scarlet is a shade of red

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​Red