Confrontation is not always the correct response to conflict.

Throughout the story, the narrator and Irene repeatedly choose avoidance over confrontation. Although their obsession with the familiar and comfortable can be interpreted as holding them back from growth, it can also be interpreted as a necessary survival tactic. Their fear of the intruders is palpable, even if it is not explicitly explained. Their fear implies that the narrator and Irene know exactly the type of danger they would be in should they confront the intruders. The decisiveness the narrator displays when locking the oak door and later fleeing the house implies that the narrator believes the intruders will overpower them in a confrontation. If the narrator and Irene truly would not win the altercation, fleeing is not only wise but is the correct choice of action. 

The narrator again implies the intruders are extremely dangerous when he locks the house behind him to protect any hypothetical robbers, rather than the house itself and their money and other possessions within it. The absurdity of worrying about the fate of the robbers only highlights the narrator’s sincere belief that the intruders represent an existential danger. It makes sense that Irene and the narrator choose flight over fight because in their minds it is the only choice available to them. Although the narrator and Irene wind up losing their home and their possessions, their survival is ultimately more important than material things.  

Privilege can leave one unprepared for the real world. 

The narrator and Irene are painted as privileged and wealthy from the outset of the story. They live a sheltered, detached existence in their family’s grand home and are the beneficiaries of generational wealth. The narrator himself describes knitting as a pastime for lazy people, while unironically explaining that knitting is Irene’s primary pastime. Although he claims Irene’s knitting is different, the hypocrisy of this observation is later revealed when he discovers piles of unworn knitted shawls hidden away in a chest. The narrator himself spends most of his time participating in the privileged hobby of reading French literature books, and later organizing his father’s stamp collection. The siblings' obsessive cleaning and possessiveness over the house illustrate their pride in their family’s privileged legacy. 

However, the house also functions as a protective bubble that shields the narrator and Irene from the outside world. The intruders symbolize an unwelcome invasion into this privileged bubble that threatens their way of life. The genuine fear that the narrator displays when he hears the intruders reveals his fear of the outside world and an awareness that he and Irene are unprepared to deal with it. In the story’s final scene, the narrator and Irene leave behind the two items that represent their privileged lives, the French literature books and Irene’s knitting, as well as all of their money. The abandonment of these items represents their lack of utility for surviving in the real world.

Acting passively in life leads to dissatisfaction.

The story presents the narrator and Irene’s passive behavior as the primary reason the siblings lose their home and possessions. On the surface, it seems like the narrator and Irene are content to live their lives on autopilot as they make no effort to marry and start families of their own or break out of their familiar habits. However, the narrator’s comment about Maria Esther’s death reveals regret over what could have been. Similarly, the narrator’s continual battle with the dust in the house reveals his frustration with his everyday life. His inability to find new French literature books is yet another way the outside world seems to conspire to keep the narrator unhappy. It is significant that his books are left behind when he locks himself and Irene on one side of the house after he first hears the intruders. Even the one thing that brings him joy is no longer accessible. The narrator’s relief that he no longer has to clean for hours each day reveals that the life he was living was wearing him down. 

The narrator’s new life, however, is also not something he actively chooses. His new frustrations are revealed when he admits he is so bored he has stopped thinking and that he has fits in his sleep. For her part, Irene makes no choices at all and follows her brother blindly at every juncture. Her discontent is illustrated through her furious knitting and her sleep-talking. The culmination of their passivity results in the siblings standing distraught in the street as they relinquish it to the intruders.