I absolutely think that, "Why does he go on?" is the right question. I've always felt that suicide, ultimately, was beyond Mick. No matter how much he might long for death, as here, I think taking that definitive action to end his own life is just something he couldn't do. Call it upbringing, call it belief, call it instinct, I don't know, but that's how I see it. I do think that without someone like Josef, though, in this situation, he would just fade away from neglect. Josef knows it too, hence his decision that something has to be done to shock Mick out of his spiral of grief. Because Josef can't face losing Mick and this story is just as much about him, as you say, as it is about Mick.Josef knows there are no answers - there is only existence, persistence. He's had 400 years to learn that and now he is Mick's teacher.
Red
