The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

The novel’s titular octopus reappears often in the text, functioning as a symbol of The Sacrifices of Motherhood. Margot, who is the first to explain the symbolic connection, tells Pen that female octopi sacrifice themselves for their children, starving themselves while they tend to their eggs and then dying, after which their bodies “sometimes [become] a source of food for [their] young” (326). Significantly, Margot believes that the essence of this self-sacrifice is true of human mothers as well, and she resents the idea that the cultural narrative places women in one of two roles: totally self-sacrificing saints or monsters who abandon their duties. As Margot laments, “There is little room for a mother’s self-interest in the narrative. There is only the selfish monster and the octopus” (326). This metaphor explains Margot’s own ambiguous attitude towards motherhood, as well as her refusal to marry Ted.

As a young woman, Pen is moved by Margot’s story, but she is not fully convinced that Margot’s assessment is accurate. Seeing more wholesome possibilities in mothering, Pen turns instead to her own mother and Christina for additional insight. Christina tells her that the evolutionary reason that the mother octopus dies is to prevent a situation in which she is forced to eat her children or compete with them for survival. She also asserts, “Parents don’t become redundant right away. But we do become so, eventually, if we’ve done our jobs at all well” (362). As an adult Pen rocks her infant daughter in the novel’s prologue, she reflects on these ideas of motherhood and imagines herself stepping aside to encourage her child’s eventual independence. Also present in this scene is a “plush octopus” sent by an unidentified woman. This plush animal is a reminder of the sacrifices of motherhood as well as an indicator of Pen’s ability to make her own choices and forge her own path as a mother.