This story, “Shells” by Cynthia Rylant, talks about how a 14-year-old boy who faces challenges and is forced to live with his aunt after his parents death. In the beginning Michael is living with his Aunt Esther and they don’t get along well. One day, Michael buys a hermit crab and Aunt Esther seems interested. Later his aunt bought him twenty more of these, and he was very grateful. At the end of the story, the aunt, who hasn't hugged anyone in years, embraces Michael, and Sluggo comes out of his shell.
Family members should understand each other, and try to give each other support when needed. Everyone has their own "shell", but a family should have only one shell with everyone in this one shell, because in a family everything and everyone should be relaxed. We can see that later on in the story of "Shells", Michael accepts Aunt Esther and her being in the house. She does this by understanding and supporting Michael, to become closer as family. Aunt Esther understands Michael by letting him keep his pet hermit crab and not reject it. Meanwhile she supports Michael by buying even more hermit crabs to be friends with the original Sluggo. What defines a family is the kindness and support within the family. At the end of the story Aunt Esther showed this kind of kindness, which resulted in Michael accepting her. Therefore, in a family, there should always be understanding and support between the family members.
We need to attempt to understand the people around us in order to truly see their character. Sometimes what people may seem is not who they truly are. To understand them, we will be able to know them much better than before. Aunt Esther first thought that Michael was a very hard teenager to care for, and complains to her friends about this, but later on she discovers that there is more to Michael than it first seems and he seems to be lonely just like her. Michael didn't like Aunt Esther at first, and as stated in the text, "doesn't care" about her in any way, but later he realizes she wasn't as bad as he first thought. At first, neither of them tried to understand each other, which resulted in them not seeing each other, and what they really have. Later on, they did this, and finally began to accept each other. Clearly, understanding others will give us a fuller picture of them, rather than just relying on our eyes.
Everyone needs a companion of their own. We need companions or friends to help us, and to correct us when we make mistakes. Sometimes, they can also comfort us when we are sad or are feeling down. A good example of this is that Aunt Esther hasn't lived with people in a long time, but after meeting Michael, she has a great companion and many more things would come into her life than before. Michael, on the other hand, has just experienced his parents dying, and feels very sad. Aunt Esther's coming actually calms him down from the mists of sadness. As Aunt Esther noticed, even the hermit crab needs a companion. Knowing what being alone feels like, Aunt Esther then went ahead and gave Sluggo some companions to be with. As you can see, companions are very important to us and it is very good for us to have one.
This story is fun and entertaining, talking about how a girl named Annemarie escapes the German soldiers with her friend and her family. This story is very interesting itself, and it is a huge pleasure to just read it, but there are deeper, more important ideas to be learned from the story. It tells us about how people are all humans in the root, being brave and having courage when life requires us to do it, or when there is a need to, and the idea of becoming mature, which would result in better decisions. These three things might not look as important, but they will turn out to be throughout our lives. They guide us away from our deepest worries and into sunshine and confidence. They help us become wiser than we are now, and would help us make better choices. These important things will last us all our lives, so we should take notice of them now, so we could be benefited by them earlier, which would be very good for us. As you can see, this book is very good, and it tells us of important things essential to a good, happy life.
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