Shells By Cynthia Rylant Summary

“Shells” by Cynthia Rylant is a short realistic story about a boy Michael that is trying to get through life with Aunt Esther with his parents dead. In order to do that he must get along with Aunt Esther because he is going to be living there his whole life. In the beginning michael the fourteen-year-old boy feels lonely because both of his parents died and he is forced to live with Aunt Esther and forced to go to school at a place in Detroit. He realizes he has to make a change if he wants to live life like he did before his parents passed away. Finally Michael got a crayfish and Aunt Esther wanted to change to so they went to the pet store and got twenty more crayfish. Thought the story Michael had a struggle of being himself again and leaving all past things in the past.
Michael and Aunt Esther are trying to be friends and get along so he can be normal again. When Michael came home with a hermit crab one day Aunt Esther was sitting on the …show more content…
When michael is thinking about his parents he balls his eyes out. For example in paragraph 59 michael turned away from Aunt Esther while he was thinking about his mom and dad. When Aunt Esther said “oh my” she whispered “i'm sorry” after she said something about her mom and dad. This proves aunt esther is saying sorry for her actions.This proves aunt esther is nicer than she was before.
Michael and Aunt Esther struggle with getting along and being friends but they do at the end. When Michael gets a crayfish and tries to be different and cheer up so does Aunt Esther. She gets into michael's interests and buys twenty more crayfish. When Michael and Aunt Esther were happy with each other Aunt Esther reminded Michael about his parents in paragraph 56 she said “Oh, what what would your mother think,Michael, if she could see this mess we’ve gotten ourselves into!”In the end they use a metaphor they say sluggo came out of his shell just like Michael came out of being not