Cortázar shows the death of the main character through the axolotls—through his transformation and relationship with them. When he finds these salamanders, he forms a bond with them. He visits them every day, becoming obsessed. His obsession seems to lie with “their immobility, their faint movements” (3). This immobility resembles the narrator; he spends hours at the aquarium, “glueing his face to the glass” (6). Even though he can leave, he can’t help but come back. The axolotls and his interest in them keep him stuck in this routine. In addition, the unnamed narrator feels that the axolotls had a human quality to them. At one point, he describes them as having “tiny fingers with minutely human nails” (5). Not only is the narrator immobile,
