# Shell Crafts Symbol Analysis in That Summer by Jennifer Weiner

What the Shell Crafts Are and Where They Come FromnIn Jennifer Weiner's That Summer, Diana Scalzi's decoupaged oyster shells are one of the novel's most tangible symbols of creative healing and hard-won independence. The crafts are exactly what they sound like: oyster shells that Diana collects, cleans, paints, and decoupages with patterned napkin paper, turning beach debris into small dishes designed to hold her necklaces and earrings.nThe process, described in detail in Chapter 9, is methodical and almost ritualistic. Diana soaks the shells in vinegar, dries them in the sun, paints the largest ones white on the inside, and adds a fine layer of gold around each rim. She brushes on Mod Podge, carefully peels two-ply napkins apart, presses the colorful side into the shell, trims the excess, lacquers the paper, and sands the edges smooth. The finished products are brightly colored, their gold rims vivid, looking like flowers—pinks and creams, reds and golds—unfolding in the sun.nThe craft emerges from a specific history. During her winter on the Cape, Diana learns clamming and oystering from Jane, a fellow dog walker, and tosses the oyster shells into a heap at the corner of her deck. The heap grows to nearly knee-high by March. The shells trigger a memory of her summer with Dr. Levy, when she would boil shells clean and let the twins Sam and Sarah stomp them to bits on the driveway. That memory—of destruction, of childhood play, of a summer that ended in assault—becomes the raw material for something new.n## Where the Shells Recur in the NarrativenThe shell crafts appear at three key moments, each marking a stage in Diana's arc:n- Chapter 9 (winter): Diana creates the shells alone in her cottage, showing her creation only to her dog Willa, who sniffs it dubiously. This is the origin point: a solitary act of making.n- Chapter 10 (late March): Michael Carmody, the caretaker, arrives to fix Diana's furnace and notices the decorated shells. He admires them and suggests she sell them at the farmers' market. When Diana says she plans to return to Boston, Michael proposes selling the shells through Maudie, the tomato vendor, and asks for a date as his agent's cut. Diana agrees. The shells become a bridge to economic possibility and to romantic connection.n- Chapter 25 (Beatrice's perspective): Months later, Diana shows Beatrice photos of her shells—six oyster shells edged in gold, decoupaged with fleur-de-lis, lobsters, starfish, and paisley prints—along with embroidered samplers, including one that reads BULLSHIT in elaborate cursive. When Beatrice mentions John Derian, the celebrated decoupage artist, Diana smiles and says she has met him. The shells become a point of connection between Diana and the teenage Beatrice, who makes shadowboxes and does taxidermy.n- Coda: Diana teaches Beatrice crafts at the Shoemakers' house, extending the creative practice into the next generation.n## How the Meaning Changes Across the NovelnThe shells' meaning shifts in ways that track Diana's own transformation.nFrom destruction to creation. The most striking contrast is between the prologue's shell-stomping and the winter's shell-crafting. In the prologue, Diana boils shells and invites the twins to crush them—an act of play, but also of annihilation. The memory resurfaces when Diana looks at her own heap of oyster shells in winter. Instead of crushing them, she transforms them. The same material that once got smashed now gets painted, gilded, and preserved. This reversal mirrors Diana's own trajectory: the girl who was broken by assault becomes a woman who makes something beautiful from what the sea leaves behind.nFrom private to public. The shells begin as a private activity, something Diana does alone in her cottage. Michael's suggestion to sell them at the farmers' market moves them into the public sphere. This is not just about commerce; it is about Diana allowing her work to be seen, valued, and exchanged. The fact that Michael proposes the sale—and that Diana negotiates terms, insisting Maudie get a share—shows Diana engaging with the world on her own terms.nFrom survival to connection. By Chapter 25, the shells have become a social currency. Diana shows them to Beatrice, and the two bond over their shared love of craft. Beatrice, who initially seems prickly and defensive, warms to Diana precisely because Diana takes her art seriously. The shells facilitate an intergenerational friendship that neither woman expected.n## Character ConnectionsnDiana. The shells are Diana's most direct expression of creative agency. When she first arrives at the cottage in Chapter 7, she imagines casting off her years of numbness and sorrow and turning into someone else. The cottage itself contains a jar filled with shells on a shelf, suggesting that shells have always been part of this place's visual language. Diana's decision to collect, clean, and transform them is a way of claiming the Cape as her own, despite the trauma she experienced there. The craft is also embedded in a network of female mentorship: Jane teaches her to clam and oyster, and the shells she collects become the raw material for her art.nMichael. Michael's role in the shell narrative is significant. He does not just admire the shells; he sees their commercial potential and offers to help Diana sell them. This is consistent with his broader character—he notices details about Diana's habits, acknowledges that someone has hurt her, and insists he is not that kind of man. The shells become a vehicle for his courtship: he asks for a date as his agent's cut, and Diana agrees. The shells thus mediate a relationship that Diana enters cautiously but willingly.nBeatrice. For Beatrice, the shells represent a connection to an adult who takes her seriously. Beatrice's own crafts—shadowboxes, taxidermy, needle-felting—are dismissed or misunderstood by her mother. Diana's appreciation is genuine, and the two bond over their shared artistic sensibility. The shells are the initial point of contact, the thing that makes Beatrice drop her pretensions of being cool and ask to see more.n## Theme ConnectionsnThe shell crafts connect to several of the novel's central themes:n- Healing from sexual trauma as a nonlinear, lifelong process. The shells are created in the same landscape where Diana was assaulted. By collecting shells from the beach and transforming them, Diana reclaims the physical space of her trauma. The craft is not a cure—Diana's healing is ongoing and complicated—but it is a tangible practice of making meaning from what the sea gives her. See Healing from Sexual Trauma as a Nonlinear, Lifelong Process.n- Female friendship as a source of strength. Jane teaches Diana to clam and oyster, and the shells she collects become the raw material for her art. Later, the shells connect Diana to Beatrice, extending that network across generations. See Female Friendship as a Source of Strength and Transformation.n- Class privilege and the performance of identity. The shells are made from humble materials—oyster shells, clearance-bin napkins, hardware-store paint—yet they are beautiful and sold at a farmers' market frequented by summer people. The craft represents a kind of making-do that is also a form of self-fashioning. Diana, who came to the Cape as a scholarship student, now lives there as a year-round resident and restaurant owner. The shells are part of her claim to a place that once excluded her. See Class Privilege, Social Mobility, and the Performance of Identity.n- Bystander complicity and the culture of silence. The shells also stand in quiet opposition to the silence that surrounded Diana's assault. Making something visible and beautiful from the beach where she was hurt is a refusal to let that story remain buried. See Bystander Complicity and the Culture of Silence.n## Study Questions with Answersn**1. How does the shell-stomping memory from the prologue shape the meaning of Diana's shell crafts?nThe prologue shows fifteen-year-old Diana boiling shells and inviting Dr. Levy's twins to stomp them to bits—an act of destruction that is also playful and communal. When Diana recalls this memory in Chapter 9, she is looking at her own heap of oyster shells, collected during a winter of clamming and oystering with Jane. The crafts reverse the earlier act: instead of crushing the shells, she paints, gilds, and preserves them. The reversal suggests that Diana is no longer the girl who participated in destruction, but a woman who can transform the debris of the past into something lasting. The memory also links the shells to the summer of her assault, making the craft an act of reclamation.n2. What does Michael's suggestion to sell the shells reveal about his character and his relationship to Diana?nMichael notices the shells and immediately sees their value—both aesthetic and commercial. His suggestion to sell them through Maudie is practical and generous, and his request for a date as his agent's cut is playful rather than pushy. The exchange shows Michael paying attention to Diana's work and treating it seriously, which is consistent with his later confession that he has observed her habits and likes her. The shells become a low-stakes way for Diana to accept a date with him—she agrees to the deal, not to a grand romantic gesture. This fits the novel's careful treatment of Diana's trauma: Michael earns her trust gradually, and the shells are part of that process.n3. Why does the shell craft resonate so strongly with Beatrice?nBeatrice is a teenager who makes shadowboxes and does taxidermy—crafts that her mother finds unsettling. When Diana shows Beatrice her shells and embroidered samplers, she treats Beatrice's interests as legitimate rather than strange. Diana's appreciation is sincere, and Beatrice can tell. The shells matter to Beatrice because they represent an adult who sees her as she is, not as her parents want her to be. The connection also works in reverse: Diana finds in Beatrice a younger person who shares her creative sensibility. The shells are the medium through which this intergenerational friendship forms.n4. How do the shell crafts function differently in Diana's private life versus her public life?**nPrivately, the shells are a solitary practice—Diana makes them alone in her cottage, showing them only to her dog. They are a way of processing her past and building a new identity. Publicly, the shells become a commodity (sold at the farmers' market), a social connector (shared with Beatrice), and a marker of her integration into Cape Cod life. The shift from private to public mirrors Diana's own arc: she moves from isolation and numbness to engagement with the world. The shells are never just decoration; they are evidence of a life being rebuilt. For more on Diana's journey, see the character analysis of Diana Scalzi Carmody and the overview of That Summer.