Geographic and Discursive Wanderings of San Francisco’s “Evil” Octopuses

In mid-nineteenth-century San Francisco, octopuses were abruptly reinvented as “devil-fish,” diabolical sea creatures menacing humans who entered their realm. Simultaneously, metaphorical octopuses began appearing in the press, demonizing a range of phenomena. This paper examines the construction, life and decline of the “evil” octopus myth; the interplay of the literal and metaphoric, and exchange between literature, science, and the press. Notably, literary discourse strongly shaped the popular representation of the octopus, and the deployment of the octopus metaphor was largely driven by its suitability for political agitation in urban space, including racist antagonism against the Chinese. In contrast to accepted theory, which posits an evolution from the literal to metaphoric to mythic, this case study reveals an inverted relationship.