Connectivity and Companionship

One aim of this book is to highlight the importance of companionship and communion in order to voercome adversity. The snail provides Elisabeth with connectivity and companionship that mitigate the isolation of her illness and demonstrate the healing power of connection with another living creature. Repeatedly throughout the book, she reiterates the sense of connection that she feels whenever she watches the snail. As she writes relatively early in the book: “I observed without thinking, looking into the terrarium simply to feel connected to another creature; another life was being lived just a few inches away” (33). This suggests that the presence of another living creature in some way changes the energy of the space in which Elisabeth in confined. The snail’s journey to live its life cycle goes on though Elisabeth’s normal life has been halted, and this is a comforting reminder to her...