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In Green Days By Shellie Shellie

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Examination of Literary Character Shellie in Green Days by The River Shellie Lammy is presented by Michael Anthony, Green Days by The River, originally published in 1967 as an adolescent boy aged 15 who lives in Mayaro. Shellie, also referred to as Shell, is caught in the developmental process as he works through the emotional and biological changes that comes with transitioning from childhood to adulthood. In the story, this transition is paralleled to the changes in his environment that he experiences as his family, due to the illness of his father, moves from Pierre Hill which is described as the bush in the novel to an inland village in Mayaro. During this period, Shell experiences an array of changes associated with transitioning from a boy to a man. He …show more content…

In this paper I will attempt to apply to Shell's character some developmental concepts covered in this class. Framed in Eric Erikson's Psychosocial Stages of Development, I will look at Shellie as he discovers his self- system; and, some of the trajectories and transition points which he experiences. If we were to apply a theory to understand exactly where Shell was in his developmental process, Eric Erikson Psychosocial Stages of Development, particularly the fifth stage of development, Identity vs Role Confusion may be most applicable. This stage focuses on individuals ages 12-18; and speaks about the individual searching for a sense of self and personal identity as they explore their value and belief system, (Schaffer, 2006). Similar to what we have read about Shell's journey; Erikson goes on to explain that the individual becomes independent and begin thinking about goals, possible career options, relationships and focuses a lot of energy into fitting into social groups and society on the whole, (Schaffer,

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