As Robert walked from his apartment to the Victoria General Hospital, he passed a large cemetery that stretched across several city blocks. The shape of the stone crosses on the graves reminded him of the shape of the hospital building across the street, which towers in the background of this image like a faceless monolith. A second idea in this image is that each family member reacts in his or her own way to the grieving process. In the finished painting, Robert adds a barking dog in the foreground to provide a note of alarm or protest to the otherwise passive group.