The motif is of ambiguous tonality, giving it an air of uncertainty or hollowness. In Velazquez's honest depiction the baby's eyes have a faint gray-blue-brown hollowness around them. Fried considers the Literalist art's "hollowness" to be "biomorphic" as it references a living organism. Due to the hollowness of porcelain vases, they were filled with soil and beans. Paula Paige of "TV Guide" called Dexter's monologue about his hollowness "very moving". This made the guitar light, and the hollowness gave it a very distinct sound.