46 pages • 1 hour read
Lauren TarshisI Survived The Shark Attacks Of 1916
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 14-AfterwordChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 14 Summary
In his hospital room with Uncle Jerry always by his side, Chet spends the next few days in a haze of medication. Vague memories of what happened after the shark attack come to his mind, but it takes five days before Chet fully recalls that the shark had taken part of his calf and nearly took his entire leg. The doctors tell Chet that his leg will heal, and Uncle Jerry refers to him as “the miracle kid” (78), which is how all the newspapers refer to him. Chet learns of what happened to the other victims on the day of his attack and wishes to be with his mother and father, who are on their way to New Jersey from California by train. Each time Chet falls asleep, nightmares jolt him awake. Even when he is awake, he feels the “black killer eyes” of the shark watching him (80). Chet feels more alone than ever before.
Chapter 15 Summary
On his sixth day in the hospital, Chet wakes up to a visit from Uncle Jerry, followed by Dewey, Sid, and Monty. Chet cannot believe that the boys are visiting him considering that the hospital is two hours away from Elm Hills. Chet wonders if the boys are still mad at him and notices that they all look a little nervous. Chet waves at them and they rush into the room, talking over each other to tell Chet that searchers have found the shark, cut it open, and found human bones in its stomach. Chet has heard all of this already from Uncle Jerry but is so thrilled that the boys are here that he hopes that they never stop talking. They also tell him that Captain Wilson is a celebrity now, fielding interview inquiries from reporters around the world.
Sid asks about Chet’s leg, and Chet admits to himself that he has barely looked at his injury, keeping his eyes shut and gnawing on a rag during bandage changes due to the pain. Chet admits that he will have a limp for the rest of his life due to the injury. The boys move closer to Chet on the bed and apologize for everything that happened leading up to the shark attack. Chet admits that he should not have played his Creek Devil prank, or the boys would have believed him sooner, but Sid insists that Chet saved his life. The boys are all quiet for a moment, and in the silence, Chet realizes that he and the boys will always have a connection because of the experience they shared. Sid informs Chet that there will be no more pranks. Sid, Monty, and Dewey stay for the rest of the afternoon until Uncle Jerry comes to collect the boys to go home.
Uncle Jerry tells them to wait in the hall while he talks to Chet. Uncle Jerry tells Chet that his parents will arrive at the hospital after dinner and that he is thinking about asking Chet’s father to stay in Elm Hills to help him run the diner. Overcome with emotion, Chet can only nod in agreement. While Chet waits alone for his parents, he looks forward to introducing them to the boys and Captain Wilson.
Chet falls asleep, dreaming that he is an old man, sitting at a diner, telling a story about a shark in a creek to a group of young boys. Chet describes the events of the shark attack, how scared he felt, but that in the end he survived because he was not alone, but rather carried to safety by his friends who refused to let him go.
Afterword Summary: “The Shark Attacks of 1916: An Unbelievable True Story”
In an afterword, Tarshis explains the real history behind her historical fiction novel. While the characters in I Survived: The Shark Attacks of 1916 are fictional, the attacks themselves did take place in the scorching summer of 1916 in New Jersey. The people mentioned in the newspaper articles, such as Charles Vansant, Charles Bruder, Lester Stillwell, and Stanley Fisher, were the real victims of the summer’s shark attacks. Tarshis writes that her inspiration for Chet was a 12-year-old, Joseph Dunn, who sustained a leg bite like Chet but survived.
Tarshis also notes the misconceptions that contributed to the disbelief people had about the shark attacks. Tarshis explains that at the time, marine biology was an underdeveloped field of study, and the average person knew almost nothing about sharks. She says that misconceptions were common: “Sharks are tame creatures, most people believed, easily scared, with jaws too weak to do real damage to a human” (88). After briefly explaining theories for shark attacks, such as unusual ocean or weather conditions, Tarshis concludes by stating that shark attacks remain rare, and we may never know for sure what caused the shark attacks of 1916.
Chapter 14-Afterword Analysis
These final chapters solidify Chet’s relationships and sense of belonging in Elm Hills. The boys illustrate how their harrowing experience changed them and what they have learned about the true meaning of friendship. Sid illustrates this when he tells Chet: “We’re calling a truce. No more pranks” (85). Their actions in saving one another from the shark forges their relationship into something stronger than childish pranks, highlighting a coming-of-age for all of them. The boys survive the attack because they help to save each other. With his friendships secured, Chet can finally begin to feel a sense of belonging and home in Elm Hills. Uncle Jerry reaffirms that he is a force of stability in Chet’s life when he shares his plans to ask Chet’s father to stay in Elm Hills and help him run the diner.
This news settles into Chet’s psyche, and as he dozes off, he has a dream about his future: “He dreamed that he was an old man, sitting in a diner, telling a story to a gang of boys” about his shark attack (87). This scene explicitly mirrors the scene from the diner when Captain Wilson tells his shark tale to the group of gathered boys. A significant difference in Chet’s dream, however, is that the story does not end with him floating alone as a speck in the ocean, but rather saved by his friends’ intervention: “But in the end, the beast couldn’t get him. Because Chet hadn’t been alone. Because his friends had reached out for him. They’d held him tight. And they never let him go” (87). This quote speaks to how Chet’s sense of belonging has radically changed through this experience. No longer does he worry about being the lone speck in the ocean, because in his greatest moment of need, he was not alone.
While characters like Chet and his friends undergo transformation, other characters, like Captain Wilson, remain steadfast in their beliefs throughout the text and are rewarded for their consistency. Wilson is the only one who believes in the shark attacks from the beginning and is there for Chet in his hour of need. Captain Wilson emerges as a hero in these final chapters for the role he plays in saving Chet’s life. The boys tell Chet when they visit him in the hospital that “Captain Wilson was a celebrity, that newspaper reporters were coming from around the world to talk to him” (83). Wilson experiences redemption, no longer viewed as a man struggling with his grip on reality, but rather a hero who did not allow the perception of others to shape his actions.
As much as this story is one of friendship, bravery, and survival, it is based in historical fact and is fundamentally a true story about the sometimes-deadly outcomes of The Intersection of Human Activity and the Natural World. Tarshis includes an Afterword in the text, a short chapter that provides historical context for the events of the text. Tarshis uses dramatic irony to highlight the major misconception that sharks have “jaws too weak to do real damage to a human” (88). Tarshis shows how misconceptions such as these can have deadly consequences. Although Tarshis placed the Afterword at the end of the story, it aims to help readers to better understand how the events of the text could have unfolded as they did.
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