The story is set almost entirely in the narrator and Irene’s ancestral home in Buenos Aires. Also of note is when the story is set. “House Taken Over” was published in 1946 and is assumed to take place in Juan Perón’s Argentina. Perón was president of Argentina from 1946 to 1955, and his presidency was the culmination of massive social and cultural upheaval in Argentina. Although Perón was considered a populist, not everyone benefited from or agreed with his policies, particularly the wealthy middle class whom the narrator and Irene most likely represent. Perón championed the working class, often through force, similar to the way the intruders take over the narrator and Irene’s home. This solidifies the story’s status as an anti-Peronist work. 

However, the house also represents the narrator and Irene’s choice to resist change by isolating themselves from the outside world. This can be read as a criticism of the wealthy middle class, many of whom stuck their heads in the sand in regard to the changing social landscape around them. The house itself shields the narrator and Irene from the community they do not want to engage with and allows them to merely exist together and not have to face the real world or any uncertainty. However, as the intruders encroach upon sections of the house, their lives become smaller and smaller alongside their reduced living space. When they choose to flee rather than confront the intruders, they are left forced to grapple with the change they have been so steadfastly resisting their entire lives.