Among the many questions a-rumbling through my noggin about this story, the most prominent is of course: is the grandson dead? Does it even matter? It matters to me!
First let's simply agree that our dear friend Phoenix is just not quite all together mentally. The vast majority of the dialogue in the story is either her talking to herself or addressing bushes, trees, animals, and at one time, a scarecrow. I would hardly call it a stretch to say that Phoenix is suffering from dementia, or at the very least is extremely confused. So really, it could be very likely that the grandson is very much dead. This is evident by the behavior of the nurses. They repeatedly ask "is he dead," and act as though they already know the answer. One of them even says "Just tell us and get it over with. Is he dead?" This seems to indicate that all the nurses secretly know that the kid is dead, but are just waiting for Phoenix to accept it. The head nurse, however, steps in and gives her the medicine, apparently calling it charity, indicating that she feels it's better to have her go on living her illusion than to force the truth on her and destroy her emotionally. So what does it mean if he's dead? Well it indicates that Phoenix is clinging to the boy. His existence fuels her entire journey and gives her purpose. So even after he dies, she goes on believing that he's alive in order to keep this sense of purpose. Why, one could even argue that her delusion that her grandson is alive is in fact all that's keeping her alive. But I'm sleepy, and don't like arguing.
I remember this was relevant somehow....
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