There are two good examples from the text which reveal Doodle as both sensitive and caring despite his physical disabilities. In fact, these disabilities may be the primary reason why Doodle became a caring individual in contrast to his often brutish brother. First, Doodle reveals his sensitive nature when his brother takes him to Old Woman Swamp. Doodle is overwhelmed by the beauty of the place:
His eyes were round with wonder as he gazed...
There are two good examples from the text which reveal Doodle as both sensitive and caring despite his physical disabilities. In fact, these disabilities may be the primary reason why Doodle became a caring individual in contrast to his often brutish brother. First, Doodle reveals his sensitive nature when his brother takes him to Old Woman Swamp. Doodle is overwhelmed by the beauty of the place:
His eyes were round with wonder as he gazed about him, and his little hands began to stroke the rubber grass. Then he began to cry.
"For heaven's sake, what's the matter?" I asked, annoyed.
"It's so pretty," he said. "So pretty, pretty, pretty."
The best example of Doodle's caring nature comes when the scarlet ibis falls dead in the family's yard. Doodle, who may have sensed a kinship with the fragile bird that was so out of place in coastal North Carolina, insists on burying the bird and singing over its grave. The incident reveals a boy with a deep sense of the importance of life, and that there are more important things than the simple physical endeavors which his brother covets and are essentially meaningless to Doodle (except in his struggle to please his brother). Doodle has that rare ability to appreciate and cherish the beauty which surrounds him, a characteristic which his brother goes to great lengths to emphasize in the retelling of Doodle's short life from many years afterward.
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