 To art critic Robert Hughes , the painting represents the theme of family continuity , virtue , homeliness , and abundance without extravagance in a Puritan tone , as confirmed by the modest beverage choice of water . Historian Lizabeth Cohen says that by depicting this freedom as a celebration in the private family home rather than a worker with a job or a government protecting the hungry and homeless , Rockwell suggests that ensuring this freedom was not as much a government responsibility as something born from participation in the mass consumer economy . 
