“The Friendship”
“Shells” by Cynthia Rylant is a realistic story about a 14-year-old boy whose parents died. He was forced to live with his Aunt Esther. They bought a hermit crab, which is bringing them closer to each other. In the beginning of the story, Michael needs to get used to his new home and living without his parents. Just with his Aunt Esther, who only took him because she was loyal to her family. Soon Michael got a hermit crab, which it helps him relieve some stress. Finally, Aunt Esther and Michael were bonding with each other and Michael came out of his shell just like Sluggo (the crab). Michael and Aunt Esther change, through the story.
In the beginning Michael and Aunt Esther don't get along very well. When the try to do something together they always end up fighting or yelling at each other. For example, in paragraph 5-11 it says, “You hate it here ,” she said “and you hate me.” “ I don't!” Michael yelled. “it's not you!”The women turned to face him in the kitchen. Don't yell at me! she said. I’ll not
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When Aunt Esther says that “Oh,What would your mother think, if the could see this mess we’ve gotten ourselves into!” In paragraph 56 it tells how Michael realizes that his mom and dad are not coming back.Aunt Esther thinks that Michael is ready to talk about his mother and father's death Then when Michael says “ I don't hate you. “ In paragraph 64 show Michael realizes that aunt esther is doing a lot to help him in the end of the story .
The characters in the story struggle with getting along,the beginnig they were not getting along. In the middle they started to get along. In the end of the end they were bonding. In some parts they couldn't even talk about why they were mad. When they were angry, they would just walk away. This forced Michael and Aunt Esther to figure it out on themselves. They learn that sometime the best relationships are the ones that takes a little bit to get use
Michael is lonely and sad. his parents died and his Aunt Esther has to take him in (74). Cause of Michael’s parents being dead he is lonely. aunt Esther and Michael do not get along. That causes them to be even more lonely.
“Shells” by Cynthia Rylant is a realistic fiction short story about a 14-year-old boy and has to go live with his Aunt Esther because of his parents death. When his parents die nobody in his family wanted to step up and take him, but Aunt Esther is fiercely loyal to her family so she took him. In the beginning, Michael had to go live with his Aunt Esther and he was really hurt inside. When he was sad he would blame it on other people and Aunt Esther thinks that he hates her. In the middle, Aunt Esther starts to kind of realize how sad and hurt Michael really is. She tries to change her relationship with him, by buying him hermit crabs for companionship. In the end, Michael is comfortable with Aunt Esther, and their relationship became stronger and Aunt Esther finds out that Michael doesn’t really hate her. Throughout the story, Aunt Esther changes her relationship with Michael.
Esther's fundamental problem with female relationships is best exemplified in her conflict with mothering and mentoring figures. These women defy her desire to be independent and free. Rich describes the tendency toward matrophobia, the fear of becoming one's mother. She explains that "the mother stands for the victim in ourselves, the unfree woman" (236). This fear of becoming like the mother/...
Another way it was difficult for Michael is because he has to go live with his aunt that he doesn’t like. For example, in paragraph 16, the author says, “Michael still expects to see his parents.” In paragraph 16, the character thinks he smells his mom's perfume and his dad's cologne. Michael doesn’t want to live with his aunt because she doesn’t pay any attention to him, she's always on the phone and when she is, she's always talking about him. This shows he doesn’t want to live with her and and it also shows it’s hard to go live with someone that u don’t want to live
The story about Esther is that she is an intelligent young woman who is attending a prestigious college. Esther has won scholarship after scholarship and is currently working on an internship at a magazine in New York. But after disappointing news that she was denied entry into a coveted writing course, Esther starts to enter into a state of depression. Her depression is compounded by the fact that society expects her to desire to be a stay at home wife and mother and not the hard-working, intelligent, self-sufficient female that she is capable of being. We see Esther spiral into self-destructive behavior where she makes a suicide attempt and ends up in a mental hospital. Esther is ‘punished’, as she sees it, with shock therapy. The end of the novel brings us to Esther’s evaluation in front of several doctors to decide whether she...
The narrator’s inner conflict can be seen when she says, “ I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst—the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed by my father’s tears. (9) Through this quote, we can see how Lizbeth struggled greatly with what has happened in her life and all the things she had to go through. The unfortunate, sad resolution to this conflict further develops the theme that growing up can be hard and things will happen that you may not like or have control of what happens. When Lizbeth says, “ ‘M-miss Lottie!’ I scrambled to my feet and just stood there and stared at her, and that was the moment when childhood faded and womanhood began. (10) This resolution shows that we can allow guilt and shame to show us that their are not always a happy ending in every story. Therefore, the plot elements of conflict and resolution further develop the
In paragraph 9 Michael had gotten into another fight with Esther when Michael yells, “I don’t punish you! I don’t care about you! I don’t care what you eat or how you dress or where you go or what you think! “Can’t you leave me alone?” living with Aunt Esther is because his Aunt Esther doesn’t understand him. In paragraphs 21+22 Michael says that Esther is always on the phone when he gets home from school, Esther told her friends about Michael. In paragraph 22 “ Esther told her friends she didn’t understand Michael.” She knew he must grieve for his parents, but why punish her?” This quote is important because Michael does grieve for his parents , but he doesn’t know how he “punishes” her. Esther isn’t use to children. Esther is “fancy” while Michael doesn’t seem to like being
Michael changes a lot. For example, In paragraph 1-10 michael says he doesn't hate aunt Esther. then later in the story michael tells the readers that he does hate aunt Esther. The story says that his aunt esther is so different from michael's parents and that he doesn't understand her completely yet, because Michael’s parents weren’t wealthy like aunt esther, and they raised children differently than aunt Esther. Michael is just really confused and he soon changes .
She describes her dreams and though they don’t seem to make sense they add a sense of mystique about Aunt Esther and it makes her seem powerful and insightful. It is believed that in the roots of African Americans there was magic and insight which is represented by Aunt Esther in what she does and sees. She makes a paper boat and hands it to Citizen in the play and says “Do you believe you can take a ride on that old boat Mr.Citizen?” (Wilson 54) That paper boat is mystical and it came from her showing the magic the culture possesses in just believing and hoping things will happen to make them come
Have you ever wanted a friend to stand up for you or a person that would stick with you no matter what? Well, I have just the 2 books for you. In the book Crash a boy named Crash has friend problems. He struggles with popularity and needs help to find a new friend. If you ever have a gut feeling and you don't know whether to trust it or not, read Compound, a girl named Eli has a gut feeling something is wrong so she tries to find out what's wrong and no matter what stands in her way she never gives up no matter what.
...ese kind of foolish acts take place every day in society. Michael and Frances obviously love and care about each other; this was just a small bump in the road that they have overcome. It could have been a fork in the road, and they could have gone their separate ways. But they stuck through it, just like most of relationships. This is important because it shows that most people can overcome any problem if they really tried.
Esther is at conflict with herself and she uses the fig tree of a symbol of the many paths she can take and it was as a “wonderful future beckoned and winked” from each path. The dilemma is that Esther can’t decide to choose a path and then the figs went “black…and…plopped to the ground at [her] feet.” She wants “two mutually exclusive things,” and refuses to pick one because she would rather “fly back and forth.” Since Esther is incapable of making a choice she loses all her options which leads her to develop depression. It starts out with Esther realizing that she more of a free-spirit “Pollyanna Cowgirl” like Betsy. From there Esther stopped being able to focus, it was as if her “mind glided off” (147). Esther starts not being able to write her letter are loopy and seem as if they were “blown askew.” Esther wonders what is wrong with herself, the psychiatrist Dr. Gordon only seems to make her wonder “what terrible thing” she had done. Eventually matters escalate to the point that Esther is trying to come up with ways to kill herself. Finally she realizes that her trouble lies not in physically state but in a mental state “deeper…and…harder to
Esther has many melting pots during this book. This “melting pot” is showing that others are different in this world, no one is exactly the same as oneself. Everyone in this word has their own opinion about others but they really in the end shouldn't matter. This world today is able to accept someone who is different or in more need because in the end we are one. Not everyone is skinny not everyone is fat not every person is bad, we are just a mixture of everything. The “melting pot” is that what she is saying about this kid shows how everyone is different within and outside.
Throughout the novel, her mother has contributed to Esther`s problems. From Esther`s point of view, consequences of her mother's actions have lead to further problems for her. It was her mother who denied Esther the right to go to her father's funeral:
The beginning of the novel introduces the reader to Esther O'Malley Robertson as the last of a family of extreme women. She is sitting in her home, remembering a story that her grandmother told her a long time ago. Esther is the first character that the reader is introduced to, but we do not really understand who she is until the end of the story. Esther's main struggle is dealing with her home on Loughbreeze Beach being torn down, and trying to figure out the mysteries of her family's past.