Does Joel's dream have a deeper meaning?

In Part II, Chapter Seven, on the walk to the creek, Idabel and Joel pass through a woods where Joel inquires about a lone grave with a tombstone reading, "Toby, Killed by the Cat". Idabel explains that Toby had been the infant daughter of Jesus Fever and his wife and had died when a cat supposedly sucked the breath from the baby's mouth. Joel's incredulousness launches him into another one of his dream states, this one about death, and Idabel has to firmly rouse Joel from his reverie.

This chapter is symbolic because it marks Joel's coming of age and the reality that he must adjust to the eccentricities of life at Skully's Landing. Joel has a stream of
consciousness dream about death after seeing the baby's grave, which makes him even more melancholy and resigned to his fate. This dream signifies Joel's growing up.