Does the family believe they live in a safe place, and does that safety make them happy?

The home in this story is fraught. It is supposed to be a refuge and a place of safety, but it instead becomes a site of imprisonment and horror. The outside world is to be kept out but seeps in instead—the husband and wife's racism, fears of the Other, anxieties, obsessiveness, and irrationality preclude them from fashioning what they intended. They hope for safety and security, but instead, they get death. The home does not need to be protected from the outside: the rot and the danger are within.