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The Quarantines
Shells are Lunars without the “gift.” They cannot control others, nor can they be controlled by others. Because shells cannot be controlled, Queen Levana and Queen Channery despised them, labelled them dangerous, and had them killed. Dr. Erland’s daughter was a shell.
Shell Quotes in Cinder
The Cinder quotes below are all either spoken by Shell or refer to Shell. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 25 Quotes
“Because she was a shell.” He picked his hat off the desk and analyzed it while he spoke, his fingers tracing the herringbone pattern. “I’d agreed with the laws in the past, thought the shells were dangerous. That our society would fall apart if they were allowed to live. But not my little girl.” An ironic smile twisted up his lips. “After she was born, I wanted to run away, to bring her to Earth, but my wife was even more devoted to Her Majesty than I had been. She wanted nothing to do with the child. And so my little Crescent Moon was taken away, like all the others. He stuffed the hat back onto his head and squinted up at Cinder. “She would be about your age now.”
Related Characters:
Dr. Erland (speaker), Cinder/Princess Selene, Queen Levana
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
245
Explanation and Analysis:
As Dr. Erland explains his own backstory, he confesses to Cinder that he fled Luna because Queen Levana killed his daughter. First, the quote elaborates on Queen Levana’s cruelty: since she cannot control a shell like Crescent Moon with her “gift” (the Lunar ability to telepathically control people), she views them as a threat to her regime because she relies so heavily on manipulation to rule. This illustrates how power can breed cruelty and greed, and it shows the lengths to which Levana will go—even killing innocent children—to maintain her power.
This passage also adds yet another layer of discrimination to the story, as Dr. Erland emphasizes how easy it is to discriminate against others when a person is not affected directly. Because Dr. Erland was a part of the majority of Lunars—those who have the gift—he agreed with oppressive laws and was unconcerned by them. But when his daughter was the one affected, he saw their injustice much more clearly. It is easy for a majority group to victimize people who are already weak because they are not affected by discrimination. But when someone identifies with a minority, like Dr. Erland with his daughter, or Cinder as a cyborg, the injustice becomes clear.
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Shell Term Timeline in Cinder
The timeline below shows where the term Shell appears in Cinder. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 19
...Dr. Erland explains that not all Lunars are born with magic (those without are called “shells”), and that parents with shell children often try to escape to Earth because those children...
(full context)
...Erland tells Cinder that she can’t let Queen Levana see her, because the Queen hates shells, whom she can’t control, and that the Queen would likely kill her. Cinder realizes that...
(full context)
Chapter 22
...daze. Cinder thinks that she is not entirely immune to the glamour, the way that shells are supposed to be—and worse, the Queen saw her.
(full context)
Chapter 24
...same as everyone else. She wonders if Dr. Erland lied to her about being a shell, or about being Lunar. Just then, an android approaches and asks her to follow it...
(full context)
Chapter 25
...away, and Dr. Erland reveals that Queen Levana killed his daughter because she was a shell. Dr. Erland then says that Cinder’s gift is starting to return to her, overwhelming her...
(full context)
Chapter 35
...in love with someone else, but she does care that Cinder is Lunar and a shell. Levana insists that Cinder be taken into captivity.
(full context)
Chapter 36
Sybil and Levana join Kai on the balcony, commenting that Cinder isn’t a shell after all. Kai sneaks down the stairs, a look of disgust on his face. He...
(full context)
Chapter 37
...to tell her last week, but she’s not only Lunar, and not only not a shell—she’s Princess Selene, Queen Levana’s niece and the true heir to the Lunar throne.
(full context)
