Conclusions

I think both of these conclusions tell us a lot about the themes of the stories. Jack doesn't change at the end of his story. He's still an addict. In fact, we see how trapped he is in his addiction letting himself be prey to a man he's clearly disgusted w/ in order to fill his drug need. It's a devastating ending. We often expect our protags to change over the course of a story. He doesn't change, but we do. Whereas we might have dismissed someone like Jack whom we saw on the street who was clearly a mess and who smelled bad, we become invested w/ him and want him to break out of this cycle (although that's unlikely). Part of that humanization is to understand that his addiction is tied up in some pretty intense suffering.

"Sh'khol" is a more conventional story. Rebecca has to learn that this developmentally challenged child of hers is also heading into puberty, that she can't protect him from the world even though she will still worry about him.