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Chapter 1
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Remarkably Bright Creatures, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Grief and Memory
Loneliness and Companionship
Family
Closure and Healing
Summary
Analysis
At the Sowell Bay Aquarium, 70-year-old evening custodian Tova Sullivan works to scrape a piece of dried gum from the floor. Small and birdlike, her hunched back pops as she bends. As she moves through the quiet, after-hours aquarium, she greets the creatures one by one, as she does every shift—bluegills, Japanese crabs, a sharp-nosed sculpin. But the giant Pacific octopus, Marcellus, is her favorite. She says hello, but he stays tucked in the corner of his tank. Tova assumes he’s too “cozy” to bother with her and admits she can’t blame him.
Tova’s introduction—greeting each of the aquatic creatures—establishes her as a gentle and caring person. Her affection for these animals hints at a deeper desire for meaningful connection, though whether she’s conscious of this desire remains to be seen. Tova doesn’t expect Marcellus to “perform” for her—she sees him in a way most who visit the aquarium do not, and she respects his autonomy.
Active
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To mop the floors, Tova uses her own lemon and vinegar mixture, preferring a more natural alternative to the “bright green junk” the aquarium had been using before she was hired. After she’s almost through cleaning, she’s surprised to find Marcellus underneath a table, tangled in a mass of power cords. He watches her with his marble-like eye as she slowly approaches. Though Tova is confused about how the octopus escaped his tank, she’s determined to help. After freeing him, he briefly wraps a tentacle around her arm before slithering back to his tank. When she looks down, she realizes her arm is dotted with small circular sucker marks.
Tova’s homemade cleaning solution speaks to how seriously she takes her work, however insignificant it may seem to others. However, it’s also a manifestation of her desire for control and order. But all semblance of control disappears when Tova finds Marcellus on the floor. His brief, intimate touch implies a growing bond between them—neither she nor the octopus fully understands the other, but something has seemingly shifted.
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As Tova finishes her shift, she wonders whether she imagined the whole encounter with the octopus. The idea of him escaping his tank and needing rescue feels too far-fetched. Leaving the aquarium, she spots Marcellus in his tank and calls him a “troublemaker.” Before driving home, she walks to the nearby pier and sits on her usual bench. Examining her arm, she notes the sucker marks resemble silver dollars and wonders if they’ll scar. She thinks of her deceased only child, Erik, as she looks out at the moonlit sea, imagining that he’s responsible for the glittering light, holding candles for her just beneath the water’s surface.
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