Gift From The Sea

Lindbergh discusses the shell of a rare sea creature called an “argonauta.” As she explains, argonauta are not attached to their shells. Rather, the shell serves as a cradle for the eggs of the argonauta’s offspring, which hatch and swim away when the mother takes the cradle to the surface of the water. Afterward, “the mother argonaut leaves her shell and starts another life” (103). Unlike the other shells Lindbergh describes, she did not find the argonauta shell; she observed it in a specialist’s collection. Named after the ship of the mythological Greek character Jason and his pursuit of the Golden Fleece, this shell symbolizes a new stage of relationship that is possible after middle age. It represents a new stage of possibility: Having outgrown the oyster shell, like the argonauta after its young hatch, one may enjoy the freedom of the open seas.

Lindbergh describes this type of relationship as “the meeting of two whole fully developed persons as persons” (105). Citing the Scottish philosopher John Macmurray, Lindbergh explains that this indicates a relationship without ulterior or particular interests or ends. Likewise, she refers to the German poet Rilke, who wrote that a new type of relationship between men and women would be possible in the future.