 Jim Martin , positioned in the lower right , gives a coy and perhaps mischievous glance back at the viewer . He is a microcosm of the entire scene in which no one appears to be giving thanks in a traditional manner of a Thanksgiving dinner . Solomon finds it a departure from previous depictions of Thanksgiving in that the participants do not lower their heads or raise their hands in the traditional poses of prayer . She sees it as an example of treating American traditions in both sanctified and casual ways . Theologian David Brown sees gratitude as implicit in the painting , while Kenneth Bendiner writes that Rockwell was mindful of the Last Supper and that the painting 's perspective echoes its rendition by Tintoretto . 
