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25 pages • 50 minutes read
Sinclair RossThe Painted Door
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1941A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Blizzard
The snowstorm is the most important symbol in “The Painted Door.” In terms of the plot, it sets the events in motion, but its symbolic meaning is also essential to the heart of the story. In general, the cold and ice represent the relationship between John and Ann. Ann feels frosty resentment toward John. While she disagrees with his decision to visit his father, she cannot articulate her profound loneliness—the deeper root of the issue. Just as the storm leaves them physically isolated, Ann is also emotionally isolated, even when she and John are together.
Furthermore, the strength of the storm reflects Ann’s inner conflict. As the storm threatens, her thoughts are dark and brooding, and after John leaves, her emotions become more tumultuous as the blizzard picks up. By the evening, when Ann is in the greatest state of confusion about John and Steven, the storm is at its worst. By morning, both her mind and the skies are clear.
Fire
Fire symbolizes the opposite of cold and snow. It represents emotional warmth and passion. Throughout the story, Ann keeps adding logs to the fire to keep warm, but with the strength of the storm, it seems like a futile effort to keep the cold away. When Steven arrives, the fire begins to crackle and jump, representing Ann’s passion. For a while, Ann believes that Steven is the one and finds warmth in him that keeps the cold and loneliness away.
The firelight also reveals John’s face at night. The warmth keeps away the cold, but the light also drives out the darkness and symbolically reveals the truth. When Ann awakes at night with Steven, light and shadows from the fire dance around the small bedroom and terrify her.
Paint
Ann decides to paint the kitchen in hopes that it will brighten the small farmhouse and “stave off the gathering cold and loneliness” (3). While a new layer of paint superficially changes the kitchen’s appearance, it does not change Ann’s longing for more. Ann even admits that the cold weather will likely make the paint crack as it dries—an indication of the futility of her efforts, as well as her Isolation and Loneliness. Notably, her painting extends to the door of the bedroom, which, as the locus of her and John’s sexual/romantic relationship, symbolizes many of her frustrations. Her attempt to cover up those frustrations fails, and she later violates the space by having extramarital sex with Steven in her and John’s bed. When John’s body is found in the morning, Ann finds a smear of white paint across his palm, indicating that he opened the bedroom door during the night and discovered her and Steven together. Her desire to fight off her loneliness turns to betrayal, and this betrayal leaves a mark on John, emotionally and physically; the daub of paint becomes a symbol of Ann’s transgression and shame.
The Clock
In “The Painted Door,” the clock serves as a motif representing the theme of Aging and the Passage of Time. While Ann is alone in the house, she notes that “the clock tick[s] on like a glib little idiot” (10). The figurative representation of the clock as an annoying, thoughtless person indicates Ann’s anxiety surrounding time’s passing. Its ticking reminds her that she is waiting for two events: John’s return and Steven’s arrival. Ann is conflicted, both wanting John to return as soon as possible and hoping Steven will arrive first. The clock’s ticking highlights the slow passage of time, intensifying her feelings of isolation and loneliness. On a wider level, the clock also reminds Ann of her aging. The protagonist feels that her youth is slipping away as hours merge into days and years and she remains unfulfilled.
