Marian’s first impression of the Old Ladies’ Home is that it is cold and unfamiliar. It’s a large building constructed of whitewashed brick, which reflects the winter sunlight “like a block of ice” (137). The motif of coldness repeats itself when Marian enters the building. She meets a nurse dressed in a white uniform who looks as if she is cold. Marian becomes cold when she enters the room of the elderly women. Her chill reinforces the sense of the setting as unwelcoming and void of human warmth. This motif evolves from the physical to the emotional. Marian’s lack of compassion for the women mirrors the cold environment.

The description of the home is another important motif. The flooring is undulating and the hallway smells like the interior of a clock. It’s a place not cared for, just as the people who live there are not cared for. The room the women live in is dark and crowded, with too much furniture. Even though it’s small, the room contains two beds, a wicker chair, a wardrobe, a washstand, and a rocking chair. It smells and feels wet, more like a barn or a zoo than a place for humans to live.