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Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Intruders

The primary symbols in the story are the intruders and Irene’s knitting. The intruders represent the working-class people of Argentina in the 1940s whose interests were prioritized by the policies of Argentinian president, Juan Perón. Critics at the time viewed them as taking over society and causing huge cultural shifts. Cortázar illustrates the way the wealthy middle class at the time ignored the cultural takeover through the narrator and Irene’s bizarre reaction to hearing intruders in their home. The absurdity of ignoring intruders in one’s home until it is time to flee is meant to point out the inevitable effects of the middle class ignoring the huge cultural shifts occurring within their country. More broadly, the intruders symbolize any problem a person ignores to their own detriment.

Irene's Knitting

Similarly, Irene’s knitting symbolizes the useless activities middle-class people distracted themselves with while society changed dramatically around them. The narrator is contradictory about Irene’s knitting, characterizing it as something lazy rich women do while simultaneously claiming that Irene’s knitting is different and useful. The irony of Irene’s knitting is revealed in the wasteful way she unravels jackets that displease her and the piles of unused knitted items she keeps hidden away in a chest. The fact that the narrator is too nervous to confront Irene about the hidden knitted items is yet another metaphor for the cognitive dissonance Argentina’s middle class had about how passive they were behaving as their lives were usurped by populist policies. All throughout the story, Irene is preoccupied with her knitting to the point of obsession, but in the end, she is quick to leave it behind in the house because it is not a necessity after all. Irene’s knitting is a criticism of the passive way members of the middle class allowed the unraveling of Argentinian society to occur.

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