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“Marcellus had enough common sense to avoid such bold stunts, to keep his nightly hijinks to his usual: teasing the seahorses, poking around in the sea cucumber tank for a midnight snack. A sudden dread seeps through her at the thought of Marcellus dying alone, a vague shame at her own inability to prevent it, even if she were working here as normal.” 

This quote appears towards the end of “Expect the Unexpected,” after Tova tells Cameron how to deal with Marcellus’s nightly escapades. The preemptive shame Tova feels at the thought of not being able to save Marcellus is indicative of her projection of her son onto the octopus. She could not save nor bring back Erik after his disappearance at sea; this quote shows her fear that Marcellus will also die under her watch. This sudden appearance of trauma occurs throughout the book, with Tova’s grief and guilt often getting triggered by things around her. Marcellus is the only creature she has allowed herself to become close to since the death of her husband, and she realizes here that the octopus will also eventually die. The fact that she feels shame for this, while knowing well that Marcellus is old, demonstrates the guilt she feels for being unable to prevent the deaths of people close to her as well as the growing sense of humanity in her relationship with Marcellus.

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