It the role of the woman 'appropriate adult' or 'non' that I find interesting, and her interactions with this man, and the results.
From a review:
"Fred is something of a simpleton, but he is not simple. He is clever in a feral way, though as confused as he is clever and as needy as he is stubborn.
But this is Janet's story, above all, that of the appropriate adult, and Watson is remarkable as a woman propelled by her own need to be needed, to do good and prove something to herself into a deep, dark hole, down which she floats half-dazed, like Alice. A mystery to herself."
If the clever simpleton is a feral animal, then is the "non" obsessive compulsive in feeding the feral? and by feeding the feral, gaining a sense of satisfaction for "her own need to be needed, to do good and prove something to herself into a deep, dark hole, down which she floats half-dazed, like Alice?"
The fantasy being that the feral can become something other than a feral with the help of the "non." And the end result being that the Feral creature cannot be tamed and the frustration felt by the animal tamer consistently inconsistent to the point of obsession.