Literary Essay New Draft

Have you ever felt lonely without any friends? In the story I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 by Lauren Tarshis, Chet realizes that friends are important. 

Chet is upset that his friends don't like him anymore because he played a bad prank on them. There was a old legend that a monster lived in the creek that his friends swim in. He played a prank on them where he was the river monster and he made noises and jumped out which scared his friends. He worries that he will not be able to become friends again. Without friends, you are not very happy.  "He kept thinking of that furious look on Sid's face when Chet came out of the water" (48). He understands that he needs friends to be happy, or else he will be lonely, and his old friends will never come back to him.

Chet's friends will still not come back and make up with Chet, and Chet is too scared to go back to them. He thinks they will just push him away if he tries to come to them. But when Chet realizes that there is actually a shark in the creek, his friends won't listen to him. He thinks his friends will be at the creek and he rushes there. Chet tells his friends that they have to get out of the water because there is a shark in the water. Sid was in danger of dying from the shark eating him. So, Chet dives in to save his friend Sid. on the way out, the shark bites Chet's leg. This is another reason that friendship is important, because if you are in a tough situation, you still have your friends to help you out.

Chet's friends come to talk to him. After the incident, Chet is in the hospital healing his bottom leg. He thinks that he will be alone in the hospital doing nothing for a long time. When a knock on the door comes, he thinks that it is his uncle, who is taking care of him, but it turns out it is his three friends who just came on a 2 hour train ride to the hospital.Chet is surprised they are there because he thinks that they might still not like him. He didn't think that they would come on a train ride just to see him and apologize.   They came to apologize: "We're sorry about everything" said Monty" (84). This is another good thing that friends will do for you. They will come to comfort you. 

In I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 Chet understands that he needs to have friends to feel good in life and to not be lonely. He knows that friends are important which indicates that he grows and gets wiser about things in life.