The Shell Collector

The spiraling shape of the cone shell is a recurring and complex motif, often representing the strange path of the shell collector’s life. It is no wonder that the shell collector dwells so frequently on this image, as he spends his days using his hands to find this familiar shape. The cone spiral frequently appears as a metaphor in moments when the events of his life seem to be out of his hands, representing the latter half of the theme of Fate Versus Happenstance. The shell collector seems somewhat averse to the concept of fate. Maybe, he thinks, the disruptions of his solitude “grew outward from [] himself, the way a shell grows, spiraling upward from the inside, whorling around its inhabitant, all the while being worn down by the weathers of the sea” (12). Rather than attributing the unexpected events of his life to fate, he sees them represented by an image of organic growth influenced by external events.

Elsewhere, however, the shell evokes not chance but destiny. This is what the mwadhini sees in the snail, arguing that the snail’s presence on the beach and Nancy’s unexpected cure are “signs” of Allah’s will.