A good number of analysts have suggested that the painting consists of four subjects which represent a family (the man, his father, his wife and his son). Three members of the family are in distress. It falls upon one person (the man) to save them. Instead of saving the wife and the child as opined by a good number of people, he makes to save his elderly father instead.

The man clings to his past while ignoring what he
has now (wife) and the opportunities that his future could bring (son).