Shells
“Shells” by Cynthia Rylant is a realistic short story about a fourteen year old boy who learns how to connect with his aunt after his parents death. He blames his aunt for everything and always yells at her for nothing. In the beginning of the story Michael's parents die so he has to go live with his Aunt Esther. Michael gets in a huge fight because he hates her and doesn't want to his new home to be living with her. He tries to shut her out of his life because he feels that she will make everything worse. Soon, Michael goes and gets a hermit crab and names it Slugo. When michael goes and gets slugo he brings him to a new home and that is difficult for some things or even people. Slugo will probably have a hard time getting used to his
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When Michael's parents die he has to go live with his Aunt Esther even know he hates her. In paragraph number 24 for example, Michael's aunt says “ You hate living here.”Michael really does but he just doesn’t want to admit it to her and make her feel bad. Michael is mad at his aunt and he wants a friend so he goes to the pet store. Slugo is the crab he gets and he also gets a new home from michael because he brought him home from the store. This shows that as soon as slugo came to his house everything started to change. Slugo got a new home and so did michael.This is important because it is telling that slugo and michael represent one another because the same things happen to them.This proves that Slugo goes through the same things that Michael does and they have a …show more content…
Towards the end michael starts to open up to his aunt and forms a relationship. In paragraph number 67 michael starts to tell his aunt his feelings and why he is so bashful since his parents died. Michael crawls out of his shell by opening up to his aunt. Also when the other hermit crabs are poured into sluggos cage he comes out of his shell because it no longer fits him. This shows that both sluggo and michael are ready to bond with others and no longer stay locked up in their own little world. This tells me that when sluggo came out of his shell he opened up to others and when michael crawled out of his he opened up to his aunt. Michael realized that it is ok to open up to people around
In the beginning of the novel, we meet the Bergson family. As one reads the beginning chapters of the novel, one learns that the Bergson family has dealt with an awful toll on the family. They lost two children in between the births of Lou and Oscar. Not only did they lose two children, who they surely loved dearly, they lost a herd of cattle to a blizzard. They lost a very important plowing horse to a broken leg. They lost their hogs due to cholera. They also lost an important breeding stallion. All of these hardships occurred within a relatively short time of eleven years. Then at the end of chapter two, the Bergson's lost the head of their family in John. With the loss of the father, the famil...
In the movie, Mikey had a lot of individuals, such as peers and family members surrounding him on a daily basis that influenced his life in several ways. Mickey would get to play and socialize with other children when Mollie took him to the playground to play in the sandbox. That was the time when Mikey could be understood by the other babies when he used his inner voice. One day at the playground, Mikey was told by some of the other babies what daddies were, and then Mikey started realize that he wanted to have a dad too. Mikey soon realized that James would be a good father for him, and wants Mollie to make James his dad. Mikey gets to hear from his playmates what is going on in their households, and he realizes that he is missing one part of a family that his friends enjoy a lot, which are their fathers. If Mikey’s friends did not have fathers, then Mikey would not have even thought about a dad until later in life. Peers have a big impact on children when growing up. Kids love to compare different aspects in life and want to be equal. The inner most level of the environment is the Microsystems. Children physical attributes, personalities, and capacities affect adults’ behaviors, but adults affect children’s behaviors as well (Berk, 2013). Therefore James and Mollie were both involved in influencing Mikey’s life equally as an infant. Mollie wanted Mikey to be in a successful environment with the executive, Albert, so that Mikey could be influenced by him, but Mikey had been exposed to James more, even though he was not the biological father. Mikey developed similar characteristics from James since that was the male figure that he was around the most. Mikey enjoyed playing with cars and pretending to drive because he was used to seeing James drive the taxi majority of the
...s feeling of achievement at completing school is shown. There are close ups of the Tuohy’s with Ms Sue and Sam showing feelings of attachment with Michael. Moreover, the mid-shots of the teacher’s face highlights that he is accepted in the school community too. As such, Michael, like Billy has achieved a new sense of belonging due to connections with new people and places.
The entire story was a symbol of Needy’s life. The setting in the story was symbolic to the way Needy was feeling. Needy’s life was diminishing right before his eyes, and he did not realize it. The different changes in the story represented how much Needy’s life had gradually changed over time. By reading the story the reader can tell that Needy was in a state of denial.
In conclusion, the bird, Andrew, and Andrew’s dad are all hard working and never give up. They all work hard to do something to change their lives. The bird, getting out of the airport. Andrew, saving money to eventually buy an apartment. Last, Andrew’s dad, never giving up on getting Andrew to school. This is important to show that even though you might not get what you want at first, if you keep trying you could do whatever you want and make your dreams come true. You could do something to change your life if you never give up and just keep
Much success has come from the novel due to its highly relatable nature and has made others’ lives easier to make sense of. The novel’s importance is that it is there to describe the rough period where one changes from a child to an adult, and accomplishes this through the blunt nature of Holden Caulfield, his lack of understanding of adults, and his dissatisfaction of life in general.
the most important literary elements in the story. He takes a young black boy and puts
After this event, the reader can really see that deep down, the protagonist loves and cares for his father. As he hears his father enter the house babbling gibberish, he begins getting worried.
The snows of Stalingrad caused a lot of loss to him. Michael lost his brother Robert to the war but Michael managed to survive the war where he lost some of his fingers. Michael taunts himself asking why does he want to live and it starts to get to his head because a great deal of bad things happened to him as well as to the rest of his family and yet he still wants to live. “‘Why do I want to live? I shouldn’t want to, but I do” (Zusak 487) Since Michael kept asking himself why do I want to live his state of mind became to an unhealthy state and he just kept taunting himself until he died committing suicide. “Michael Holtzapfel knew what he was doing. He killed himself for wanting to live.”(Zusak 503) Michael took his Survivor’s guilt in a different route for the reason it completely shattered his state of mind tearing him into
Michael is one example of many young individuals who go through a time of having no place to call home or no one who accepts them. The night Leigh Anne pulled over to see what Michael was doing, he was on his way to the school gym to stay warm and dry. Michael didn’t have a home to return to every night because his mother chose drugs over him when he was a young boy. The morning after Michael was welcomed into the Tuohy household, Leigh Anne chased Michael down the driveway because he was leaving. He had nowhere to leave and return to, but he wasn’t used to having a place to stay for longer than a couple nights. Being homeless is not easy for anyone, but especially not for young children because they feel hopeless at such a young age and when someone actually tries to welcome them with open hearts, many can be unsure what to do. Leigh Anne set up a room in her house for Michael and after talking about the bed he said, “It’s mine?” (Film) Leigh Anne was confused by his question but he followed by saying, “I have never had one before” (film). Many American’s do not realize the homeless communities or those less fortunate than them, but Leigh Anne was making the most dramatic impact on Michael’s life by doing such simple acts of kindness that meant so much more to him than other children in their community at his
When you are born people are there to take care of you, love you, and guide you through life. As you grow up and life changes, you must take charge of your own life and not become so dependent on others. Throughout the course of life a person will encounter many changes, whether good or bad. In 'A&P';, 'The Secret Lion';, and 'A Rose for Emily';, the main characters in the stories are Sammy, the boys, and Miss Emily who face changes during their lives. All of these characters are in need of change. Because of their need for change, their lives will become much better. They are filled with wonder and awe about the world around them. No matter what type of person, everyone will encounter changes. It is part of the natural process. A person is encouraged to make these changes for the good. Sammy, the boys, and Miss Emily all encounter changes in their lives that fulfill their need to become something different.
the point of view of Michael. We, as the audience, are being told the story through Michael’s
This is where he fell in love with the game of football and he knows that to play in the pro league, he had to improve his education. He received educational support and it was critical since he did not develop education prior to living the the Tuohy’s. Moreover, when having a conversation with Leigh Anne Tuohy, his adopted mother, about his football decision, she replies: “It’s your life, Michael, it’s your life” (Hancock, Netter, Smith,..., 2010). Michael comes to the understanding that his identity as a Tuohy, a black male, and a football player, does not have to come with any pressures or expectations (Kim, 2017). He realizes that he is able to decide for himself who he wants to be, and chooses to attend University of Mississippi and accept his football scholarship . This is essential on his development because his choice to focus on athletics, improve his GPA, and choosing a school to attend and play football allows Michael to develop a sense of identity and
Thus, he is not living his life authentically to himself. After Michael has identified what he values, Dr. Vargas will guide him towards means of bringing forth those values into his life, so he can find his own meaning outside of what his parents have thrust onto him. One of the values Michael appears to regard the most is security, as he diverges from taking risks and stepping out of his comfort zone. However, this value of security stunts growth in life. Dr. Vargas may suggest to Michael to try to broaden his social circle, create more closer relationships with others to immerse himself in his new home in New Brunswick, Michael has the choice to embrace his new home or to lock himself away experiencing it. Michael will take this responsibility for his choice of locking himself away from this new home, he must transcend past qualms of moving from life as he knew in Toronto and transition to making a new life in New Brunswick. Self-transcendence is when the client transcends immediate problems, forgetting themselves and amercing themselves in the world. Michael will come to realize this environment in New Brunswick is not like Toronto, and will never replace what he left, but it is up to him to amerce himself in this environment rather than work against it. Michael should become aware that is well liked in school, not picked on
The main event is the death of the child, which has happened previously to the beginning of the poem. This event foreshadows the death of the marriage which will happen after the poem. The husband and wife go through the grief process in many different ways. The wife believes that her husband does not understand her or the grief in which she feels. Online 10, she shouts at him, “You couldn't care!...