The pillow from home that Sarah fusses over in the hospital symbolizes both her attempts to manage the guilt she feels and her need to minimize the seriousness of Teddy’s injuries. Teddy is comatose, having lost the ability to understand the quality of pillow he uses. For Sarah, however, the pillow allows for a grasp at normalcy: She is a mother who must ensure her child’s comfortability as they sleep. When Sarah arrives at the hospital, the first thing she says to Teddy centers on the pillow. “I am so mad I forgot your pillow […] I’m going to wash the pillowcase / Get it nice and soft just the way you like it” (9). She resumes her role as mother in an attempt for normalcy. She yearns now to be mother to her son, and as she fluffs his favorite pillow, she gently cradles his head, and she talks to him soothingly as if Teddy were a small child again. Sarah quietly adjusts the pillow and frets over whether she should quickly wash it, foreshadowing the renewal that Teddy’s injury brings to the family.

The pillow also symbolizes the need to preserve hope. Both Jim and Sarah, and Janey for that matter, try to convince themselves that Teddy will wake from his coma soon.