This picture appeared in my social media feed the other day.
The thread below it was really really interesting. There were many suggestions as to what the differences were. Some of the theories were
- the grandfather and little boy were dead because neither of them had plates and the grandfather had no chair
- the mother, father and grandfather were alcoholics because they had red noses
- the little boy was abused because he had a mark on his cheek and no plate
- the little boy and the grandfather died in an accident (mark on boy’s cheek, no plate in front of grandfather or boy, grandfather was standing, grandfather looked ill)
- the two adult women were the father’s wife and his mistress
- all the plates and glasses were empty and there was no food or drink apart from the turkey, so something dark must be going on
It turns out that the differences were that the father had one round and one square lens in his glasses. The society we live in and our collective trauma means that we read something into every detail except the one that we should have.
Do you agree?