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“Such are the secrets the sea holds. What I would not give to explore them again. If I could go back in time, I would collect all of it—the sneaker sole, the shoelace, the buttons, and the twin key. I would give it all to her.”

This quote, spoken by Marcellus towards the end of “Nothing Stays Sunk Forever,” reveals the explicit link between Marcellus and the death of Tova’s son, Erik. Up until this point the reader only has faint reason to suspect that Marcellus knows of Tova in some way, and here the relation is confirmed—Marcellus himself has seen the evidence of Erik’s death in the sea. The quote also demonstrates how invested in Tova’s well-being Marcellus has become, and the scale of the octopus’s ability to understand and respond to human grief. Here, Marcellus is mourning the loss of his own home as well as the loss of Tova’s son, binding his grief to Tova’s and exemplifying the similarity of their situation. 

Marcellus has been taken from the sea while Erik has been taken by the sea. In showing that connection, this quote also makes the sea itself a character in the story—an omnipresent force that harbors the losses and gains of both characters. Tova loses Erik but gains Marcellus; Marcellus loses his home but gains Tova.

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