For Stella Flanders, Goat Island is not simply an island. It is the place she grew up and the place she grew old, but also everything that has happened in between and everything that is still happening in her limited time left. The space of Goat Island and the time she has spent on Goat Island are inseparable and interwoven; one cannot be without the other. Stella has lost many of her close friends and family over the years, but they remain with her spiritually and for her, physically. As she is crossing the reach, moving into the unknown, her dead husband gives her his hat, a physical and real object, which is found on her frozen body. This shows that Goat Island is independent of time. Although Stella has have passed, she will remain on Goat Island.