In the story “Gone to Water” by Tim Gautreaux, the main character Pa Claude shows us a classic example of an old Louisiana fisherman. It’s clear in the story however that Pa Claude is suffering from some sort of dementia, and struggles with bouncing back and forth between the present and his past so much that he often forgets where he is. The result is that the family doesn’t trust him enough to leave him by himself, and always leaves someone there with him. Pa Claude however doesn’t seem to understand why his family doesn’t trust him, and is determined to stay independent
We first see Pa Claude’s dementia when he mentions to his great grandson that he wants to go fishing on the Mississippi, this doesn’t seem strange until his great grandson