The Painted Door Summary

In “The Painted Door”, Sinclair Ross evolved his story around a lonely wife who is faced with a decision between infidelity or to become insane from seclusion. Ann, a dynamic character, showed her indecisive trait represented by the snowstorm which changes throughout the story. The snowstorm and the house can also be seen as main symbols used to indicate Ann’s feelings and her relationship with John as the walls of the house began to frost and tremble as the storm hits. As the story progresses, it seems that Ann struggles to communicate with her husband and wants to experience the thrill of “being young again”.
At the beginning, Ann seemed to be depressed and tried to express her feelings to John in a passive- aggressive way when he suggests …show more content…
When John leaves, Ann is left with a can of paint. In the process of painting, the paragraph mentions that she “mixed the paint with some turpentine” and that she wanted new furniture for the house that John never got. Contrast to Ann’s original intention, turpentine serves as a type of paint thinner used for art. This detail can be added to the conflict of the story, in which turpentine can be seen as her feelings for Steven’s appearance in addition to possibly ruining her attempt to fix the house. Ann judges them side by side regularly and always has “been afraid to see them side by side” as Steven is more attractive compared to the “duller, older, uglier” John. Even though Ann knows that “John always comes”, she still continues to change to another dress with “a little flush of colour in her face” as Steven arrives. As Ann and John sit together, their arms almost touching, Ann is indecisive and dared not to move as she did not “unclench her hands, or raise her eyes.” When she finally does, she is lured into thinking that Steven was always there, “Seven years-almost as long as John- ever since the night they first danced together.” After committing adultery, Ann lay in bed with utter silence. It is