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Junting (Tony) Liang

CWR1A Sect. 23
May 7, 2019
Interacting with Octopuses: A New Exploration of Individuals

In Sy Montgomery’s book The Soul of An Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the

Wonder of Consciousness, the octopus, a mysterious animal to most people, is introduced

with rich detail. The animals are depicted to be monsters in much Western literature;

however, the author takes the audience along to experience a special journey of close

interactions with them. Montgomery leads people to jump out of their anthropocentric circle

to look at another organism objectively and interpret lives distinctively based on their own

characteristics. Through interacting several octopuses over time, she conveys the idea that

despite having such unique body structure, octopuses have minds that show similarities and

connections to people’s minds. Her stories of interactions with octopuses demonstrate that

people should consider other lifeforms as individuals with distinct body arrangements and

mental states instead of “low–level” animals.

When it comes to the octopus, first thing that comes to people’s minds may be the eight

creepy arms, which are the typical symbol of the animal. They demonstrate a fundamental

structural difference between humans and octopuses. Now what about their functions? The

tentacles are critical for exploring the surrounding with the enormous number of suckers

taking in information from their environments. Athena is the first octopus that Montgomery

interacts with. Montgomery describes her sucker: “She had 1,600 of them. Each was busily

multitasking: sucking, tasting, grabbing, holding, plucking, and releasing” (14). These

functions of the suckers demonstrate specifically how Athena explores and communicates

with the world and other individuals. The unbelievable capabilities of Athena’s tentacles may
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shock the readers. Compared to the noses and mouths of the so–called higher–level lifeforms

like humans, the suckers are able taste everything at any moment, with a much more accurate

sense perception than we have with our sensory organs. Montgomery adds that most of the

300 million neurons of an octopus are spread throughout its arms instead of in a central brain

(49). She demonstrates that each arm could represent a single information dealing system,

which means that the central brain of an octopus does not process all information received.

Montgomery explains that the purpose of such unique development of sensory organs might

be the need of “extreme multitasking”: “to coordinate all those arms; to change color and

shape; to learn, think, decide, and remember;” to feel the “taste and touch information ;” and

to process “visual images” received by the advanced eyes (49). The enormous amount of

information an octopus needs to deal with at any moment comprehends Montgomery’s

description of amazing capability of the animal’s arms. The distinct arrangement of neuron

system may allow the readers to imagine what would it be like if each human limb had its

own cognition and could act to its environment corresponding without an order from the

brain. How can a body with multiple “minds” cooperate to maintain the system and never

create any dispute? Montgomery vividly presents a distinctive structural feature of octopuses.

Since the octopuses have such unique body, they should gain more respect from people. They

are another unique type of lifeform and mental existence that share the planets with humans.

Even with their remarkable body structure and amazing neuron system, octopuses still

reflect a mental world which has similarities to those of humans. Montgomery explores the

minds of octopuses during her interactions with them. She introduces octopus Octavia to

demonstrate the transformation of her reaction to people. Since Octavia is newly caught in
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the wild when she is about two and a half years old, she is not used to artificial environment

and “human company” at all (33). Montgomery recalls that at the beginning “she didn’t even

extend an arm” (35), but as Octavia gets more familiar with the aquarium environment and

humans, she rushes quickly with excitement to see Montgomery and the staffs (47). Just like

a person who has just moved to a new community would need some time to get familiar with

the place and feel comfortable with the locals, Octavia needs some time to get used to living

in the Giant Ocean Tank in aquarium. She is alert when she first come since surrounding

conditions are too different from the sea, but she gradually becomes playful and friendly as

she gets comfortable with the environment. Octavia demonstrates a transition in mind of

vigilance which is a common social mentality in human society as well.

Montgomery conveys that like different individuals in human society, each octopus

presents special characteristics too. She shares her conversation with Bill, the octopus keeper

in aquarium, who has kept several octopuses named Guinevere, George, and Truman. All of

them behaved differently in front of similar situations. For instance, Wilson, a former

engineer who now takes charge to develop toys for the octopuses (15), had made them some

puzzle boxes. Bill tells the reactions of his octopuses:

Calm George always opened the locks methodically. But Guinevere was
impetuous. One day, the live crab inside so excited her that she squeezed the
second–largest box hard enough to crack it. . .But one day Bill gave him
[Truman] a special treat, putting two live crabs inside the smallest box. When
the two crabs started fighting, Truman became too excited to bother with the
locks. He poured hos seven–foot–long body through the two–by–six–inch
crack Guinevere had made. (25)
The funny reactions reflect different characteristics of the octopuses. Everyone seems to have

his or her own operating style, or behavior, which may demonstrate different mental

activities. George might be a patient guy who likes to solve problems; Guinevere seems to be
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more passionate; while Truman shows carelessness but is curious about objects. Their

performances pose a contradiction to many conventional thoughts that only the human brain

has evolved to the “highest level” to operate “complicated” functions like possessing various

traits. The octopuses demonstrate the old saying that everyone is born to be unique in this

world. Each one of one deserve respect for their uniqueness and intelligence. They are

individuals with distinct thinking system from other organisms, but still display the general

pattern of individual minds.

Montgomery also highlights that emotion provides a universal connection between

minds. Different individuals, even humans and octopuses, can always somehow transmit

feelings to each other. For example, in one scene of the book, octopus Octavia acts as a

therapist to Anna, a high school volunteer in aquarium whose best friend suicided (116). In

her e–mail at 2:30am to Montgomery, she says:

“I had already taken her out more times than I could count, and I felt like I
knew her pretty well. I think she sensed something was wrong. She was a lot
gentler than she usually was, and she had her tentacles on my shoulders. It’s
hard to explain why I think she understood. . . After interacting with an animal
lots of times, you get to understand what the usual behavior is and what it does
in different situations.”
“I find myself expressing my feelings more when I’m around her,” Anna
wrote me. “When I’m sad, my tremor gets worse. My arms get weaker, and my
body temperature drops.” (117)
Octavia is usually excited and interactive when she meets people that she is familiar with.

Her warm and gentle move here suggests emotional communication between her and Anna.

Anna and Octavia already know each other well, thus they tend to understand the feeling of

each other too. Such mental connection is not unusual in the human world, but here we learn

that octopuses’ minds work in this way as well. Besides, tremor, strength, and temperature are

all features that an octopus is sensitive to because of their strong sensory system. Octavia
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does not necessarily understand what is happening exactly, but she seems to recognize the

abnormal state of Anna. Thus, like a close old friend, she comforts Anna by her gentle touch.

From another perspective, Anna finds a heart to pour out her sadness, even though it will

never say a word. By transmitting Anna’s e–mail, Montgomery draws a warm picture,

demonstrating pure friendship built up by mental connection between human and another

animal. Emotional communication overcomes the barrier of differences in body structures,

languages, living habits, and thoughts between Anna and Octavia. Some type of synesthesia

connects hearts of lives. Is it not fortunate for Anna to have such an intelligent special friend

to share her feelings?

Sy Montgomery’s journey reflects deep thinking about various aspects of individuality

during her interactions with the octopuses in New England Aquarium. Despite the completely

different body structures, octopuses pose commonalities in thinking activities and

characteristics as humans when it comes to mind. Deeper inside, emotion can act as the most

fundamental communication approach between individuals of different species. Share of

feelings closes all those gaps which cut other communications. Thus, octopuses demonstrate

a unique intelligence. People should let go the anthropocentric thoughts and respect

octopuses just as equal individuals to us but with distinctive body structure.

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Work Cited

Montgomery, Sy. The Soul of An Octopus: A Suprising Exploration into the Wonder of

Consciousness. New York: Atria books, 2015.