Are Richard, Emmeline, and the baby dead?
No. Stannistreet explicitly says their breasts rise and fall and that they are asleep in the dinghy.
Does Arthur recognize them immediately?
The final line stops before recognition. Stannistreet assumes they are island natives, while Arthur can only tell that people are in the boat.
Why are they unconscious?
The crimson berries are associated throughout the novel with poisonous sleep or death. The ending confirms life, but not the family's condition after rescue.
Why is the ending ironic?
Arthur has searched for civilized children and reaches them only after outsiders misread their island appearance. The rescue therefore exposes the gap between identity and social recognition.
Themes and What the Ending Means
Nature and knowledge: The island supplies experience without the cultural explanations that normally organize it.
Innocence and sexuality: The novel idealizes instinctive development while leaving modern readers to confront questions of age, kinship, and informed consent.
Civilization and projection: Rescuers and castaways interpret one another through assumptions shaped by race, dress, and social training.
Memory and search: Arthur's fixed image of the lost children preserves him and nearly drives him mad.