The Shell Collector

The Jims—the two New York tabloid journalists visiting the shell collector—are integral characters in the shell collector’s present-day narrative, which frames the story as a whole. When they are introduced, the narrator notes, “They were both named Jim, overweight reporters from a New York tabloid. Their handshakes were slick and hot” (9). This description takes on a derisive tone, as if the narrator is seeing them through the shell collector’s mindset.

Though the shell collector is from Canada and has settled in Kenya relatively recently, it is clear that he sees the Jims as true outsiders. They “huff[] to keep up” in the “thorny” terrain (10), while the shell collector responds to the environment intuitively: “Automatically, as the next wave came, the shell collector raised his collecting bucket so it would not be swamped” (11). Thus, the shell collector’s relationship with nature, as compared to that of the Jims, develops the story’s perspective on the concept of belonging and what it means to be an outsider.

In this scene, in which the shell collector takes the Jims to the shore for the first time, the Jims are in stark juxtaposition to the blind shell collector, as they are fixated on seeing into the water: “One of the Jims has a snorkeling mask and was using it to look underwater. ‘Lookit these blue fish,’ he gasped, ‘Lookit that blue’” (11). Meanwhile, the shell collector only thinks through all the dangers in the water, imagining all the ways the Jims might get themselves hurt, illustrating how these characters are at odds with one another. These contrasts emphasize the shell collector’s characterization and worldview, thereby qualifying the Jims as foil characters.

Nancy enters the shell collector’s life abruptly when he finds her on the beach, ill with malaria, and takes her in to nurse her back to health. This event is identified by the protagonist as a catalyst for changing the course of his life on the island, which puts Nancy’s character in the role of the herald archetype. Once she recovers enough to speak, and in between relapses of her illness, she is described as talking “tirelessly,” her desire to share her own story with him like a force of nature: “a torrent of personal problems, a flood of divulged privacies” (15). She not only makes big decisions quickly but is also content to follow wherever fate or other forces lead her:

At some point, traveling through Cairo, she ran across a neo-Buddhist who turned her onto words like inner peace and equilibrium. She was on her way to live with him in Tanzania when she contracted malaria. ‘But look!’ she exclaimed, tossing up her hands. ‘I wound up here!’ As if it were all settled (15).

Once in the shell collector’s care, she continues to seek out new, enlightening experiences. She is cured of malaria by happenstance when a dangerously venomous cone snail bites her. She responds to this event with not only enthusiasm but also a desire to repeat the hallucinogenic experience. In this sense, the adventurous and seeking Nancy acts as a foil to the shell collector, who craves his daily routine and finds comfort in what is known.

The unnamed mwadhini is an enigmatic character, defined by his religious role in the community. In coming to the shell collector to ask him to treat his daughter with cone snail venom, he demonstrates faith in the mysteries of nature and in fate in general, serving as a foil to the shell collector’s anxious and doubtful nature.

He also provides an outside perspective of the shell collector, calling his desire to be left alone the habit of “a hermit, a mtawa” (21)—mtawa being the Swahili word for a recluse.

The mwadhini takes on a prophetic quality in the story, particularly in the shell collector’s life. When the shell collector refuses to treat the mwadhini’s daughter with a cone snail, the mwadhini talks him into it. “I want only to be left alone,” the shell collector says, to which the mwadhini replies, “Whatever you want. But first, you will find one of these cone shells for my daughter, and you will sting her with it. Then you will be left alone” (21). This sounds like a promise, though the mwadhini is certainly not in a position to prevent strangers from seeking out this island.

This enigmatic promise eventually comes to fruition, however. After the shell collector’s son is bitten by a cone snail and dies, the mwadhini suddenly appears in the shell collector’s home. The mwadhini says to him, “Of course the sick came, of course they came to seek out a cure. Well, you will have your peace now. No one will come looking for miracles now” (31). It is as though a prophecy has been fulfilled.

Josh is the adult son of the shell collector. He reenters his father’s life briefly, before dying of a venomous cone snail bite. He is the embodiment of altruism, setting himself at odds with his father’s caution and isolationist approach to life. When he arrives at his father’s home, he is appalled that his father is not helping all those who have come to his island looking for miracles. He befriends the orphaned boys who have set up camp outside his father’s home, guided by a duty to improve their quality of life. While the shell collector is reluctant to participate out of fear that the boys will get hurt on the reef, Josh does not share his concerns. Though the shell collector considers his son foolish, he ultimately decides to teach the boys and enjoys doing so. In this way, Josh expands his father’s world.

Though Josh’s return to his father’s life is short-lived, his death is a shocking tragedy that leaves an impact on the shell collector. This is foreshadowed early on in the story, before Josh is even introduced, when the Jims arrive: “Finally they asked him about cone shells and the strength of cone venom, about how many visitors had come. They asked nothing about his son” (10). Though the reader does not yet know the significance of this, Josh’s specter hangs over the story from the beginning.