Theof this rather
surreal short story comes rather abruptly at the very end of this tale, when it becomes clear
that Kenny is not heading towards any hospital and that Tub and Frank hold their flourishing
friendship to be more important than the life of Kenny, their former friend. Note how this is
described in the final paragraph:
Kenny lay with his arms
folded over his stomach, moving his lips at the stars. Right overhead was the Big Dipper, and
behind, hanging between Kenny's toes in the direction of the hospital, was the North Star, Pole
Star, Help to Sailors. As the truck twisted through the gentle hills the star went back and
forth between Kenny's boots, staying always in his sight. "I'm going to the hospital,"
Kenny said. But he was wrong. They had taken a different turn a long way back.
A deliberate parallel is drawn between the stars and Kenny's
companions: both are out of touch with Kenny's suffering and danger, and there is significantin
the way that the narrator points out the North Star, which was seen as a symbol of "Help to
Sailors" as it was what sailors used to guide them safely to their destination. There is no
such hope for Kenny, unfortunately, as teh final line makes clear. Although he is clearly
weakening, and, the reader infers, in danger of dying, his uncaring "friends" place
more value in their burgeoning friendship than in Kenny's health. The reader now realises that
there is very little hope of Kenny actually getting to the hospital and that he will probably
die long before he receives any medical attention.
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