Loneliness In The Painted Door

Loneliness is an experience most individuals have, whether they live in crowded cities or on empty farms. The feeling of loneliness makes individuals desperate for a connection and forces them to make extreme decisions. In “The Painted Door”, by Sinclair Ross, the author suggests that the conflict between temptation and loneliness leads to tragedy. Sinclair Ross expresses this idea through different techniques, including symbolism, to show the effects loneliness and temptation have on the transformation of the protagonist, Ann. Ann goes through an internal struggle where she must fight the temptations caused by loneliness in order to rescue her marriage. In the beginning, Ann seeks out a connection with someone; however, the poor nature of

This shift in the text is caused by the repetition of the words “motionless” and “silence”. Both of these words describe one thing, nothing. Nothing is what Ann feels, she has no one to fill the void inside of her that is seeking affection. Her sense of loneliness is portrayed through her personification of the feeling of being alone. As the “silence again, aggressive, hovering” over her, she felt so lonely that loneliness itself had become her only companionship. Despite this Ann tries to convince herself that she is fine, and her marriage was fine. “ ‘I’m a fool’. She repeated ‘all farmers’ wives have to stay alone…’ ”. As Ann repeats that line to herself, she is painting the bedroom door to occupy her. Bedrooms are a place where couples spend intimate time together, it is what symbolizes a relationship. As Ann paints the door she is trying to make her relationship seem better just like she tries to convince herself that. However, under all the layers of paint, there is a broken bond between her and John caused by miscommunication. Their way of life is so different from one another. John spends all his time working and providing whilst Ann just wants somebody. Their marriage is going through the seven-year-itch, commonly known as the hardest period of a relationship. In these seven years, their life has turned into a cycle. When it was spring Ann would look

The shadows she sees begin to haunt her as the feeling of guilt weighs on her. The haunting feeling of guilt creates a shift in the text where Ann now begins to regret her course of actions. She remembers the temptation she could not resist as the shadows turned into “swift little snakes”. This feeling of guilt that Ann has begins to suffocate her. Instead of the harsh silence weighing on her, it was now a: “deadly tightening hand…on her throat”. As the guilt consumes Ann, she begins to remember John’s loyalty. John would always come back. Ann thinks that she is imagining John as one of the shadows because: “a gleam of light revealed his face”. She can not stop thinking about John and her decision to betray him. The sense of loneliness and the temptation she faced motivated her to become desperate for a connection; the result was not fulfilling, Ann had given up all she had for temporary