The afghan Madame de Mornay knits recurs throughout the novel and this becomes a symbol of human age and endeavor. Due to her age, Madame can no longer see, so the blanket becomes a mix of colors that do not necessarily go together. During a night working on her project, she observes that she has “only three small balls in there. She had stitched each section to the others, and the afghan spread out over her bed and draped to the floor on every side. It was almost complete” (216). Madame completes her project and, in her final moments, celebrates with an outing to the stores. The following morning, Conrad finds Madame has died in her sleep. Madame’s afghan and the work she puts into it symbolizes her life and the work she puts into living in modest comfort despite her infirmities and loneliness. It is a symbol of her life, as completing it becomes her final accomplishment.

The afghan also symbolizes Madame’s past experiences. Through her memories, Madame reveals that she had filled many roles throughout her life: wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother being her favorites. She represents these many roles in the various colors the blanket takes on; as she cannot see the colors that she knits into her afghan, she also cannot see the impact her work within these roles has on the lives around her.