Life of a Fourteen-Year-Old. “Shells” by Cynthia Rylant is a realistic short story about a fourteen-year-old boy who is learning to live with his Aunt Esther after his parents passed away. In the beginning, Michael has fits and yells at Esther, telling himself that he hates her. This anger is mostly from when his parents died, and he feels horrible. Soon, Michael finds himself sitting in his room thinking about his parents, and Michael buys a hermit crab at the pet store after school because he feels lonely. In the end, Michael cries with his aunt on the couch about his parents, and he was crying because he felt safe around Esther and he could tell her things. This story explains that Michael has changed by going through the grieving process. …show more content…
Esther and Michael got into a fight, so Esther accuses him of hating her in paragraph 5. Then in paragraph 18, the author says “Although he denied it, he did hate Esther.” This means he did hate her.Toward the end of the story, Esther brings up his parents, and Michael starts sobbing. Esther then whispers to him in paragraph 61 “I am so sorry, Michael. You must hate me.” Michael says with meaning, and truthfully “No aunt Esther, I don’t hate you.” This proves that Michael has gone from hating Esther to not hating her in any way. In the beginning he would throw tantrums. At the end, he cried with Esther and didn’t hate her. Another way that Michael has gone through the grieving process is by feeling lonely. To fill in the gap that his parents had left, Michael buys a hermit crab. Michael struggles at his new school with making friends, and his teachers barely notice