Tentacles and Anchors are symbols that represent how Craig feels when he is anxious or rooted. As he explains to his doctor, tentacles are things like school that overwhelm Craig because of their infinite implications for his life. School “spirals out into a million different things” (14). Something as simple as getting lower than a 98.6% in a class result, in Craig’s mind, in him becoming homeless. For Craig, Anchors are “things that occupy my mind and make me feel good temporarily” (15), like riding his bike, doing something simple like flash cards.

Part of what immediately relieves Craig about Six North is that he doesn’t have to make decisions. He thinks that the “opposite of a Tentacle is a simple task, something that’s placed before you and that you do without question” (308). Anchors are constant. The routine of Six North sooths Craig. For a time, he is tempted to make the people at Six North his anchors. Dr. Minerva points out to them that “people don’t make good anchors” (309) because they change and leave. Instead, Craig learns how to make his own routine and his art/maps anchors for his life. This symbolizes Craig’s increased autonomy and self-regulation—he finds his own anchor.