Isolation In The Painted Door

The natural landscape and the winter storm in “The Painted Door” serve as a metaphor for Anne’s sense of isolation. Sinclair Ross, the author, of this short story uses isolation to portray complex imagery. John and Ann have been living on a farm together for seven years now, and in those seven years nothing much has changed in their lives. Their closest neighbour is John’s father who lives “five miles” away from them. During winter to get to his farm it seems longer to get there due to the “impassable” roads. John and Ann’s farm is surrounded by the “sun-chilled sky” which immediately demonstrates “a sense of isolation.” The farm points out how Ann not only feels secluded by the farm, but how she also feels isolated due to her husband John.
When John prepares himself to head out to meet his father, he does not recognize how trapped and alienated Ann feels deep down. “Pay no attention to me...it’s time I was used to staying alone.” Ann blames John for leaving her home alone, it begins to aggravate her even more because she is unsatisfied with her relationship. John is a workaholic, Ann disapproves of the fact that John would only show his affection through hard work. Ann believes “John [is] responsible for her unhappiness”. In Ann’s eyes “[John is] a slow, unambitious man.” The evidence illustrates how Ann felt about John not living up to her expectations. The lack of communication begins to transform their relationship to become more “cold” and “distant”. When John leaves Ann by herself it helps portray that Ann no longer enjoys being with John, and this casually leads her into seeing only the negative side of John. John is aware there is a possibility of a storm but he is not unaware that the storm is going to encourage Ann and Steven's relationship. “Ann [all you need is] someone to talk to besides me.” This indicates John is suggesting Steven to come over during his absence to cheer Ann