Analysis Of The Painted Door By Sinclair Ross

Sinclair Ross’ “The Painted Door” tells the story of a lonely woman named Ann, her husband John, and the hard life they share together on the Saskatchewan prairies. It takes place during the cold winter months on the couple’s farm, where after John leaves to help his father, a blizzard breaks out. Ann struggles to fight her boredom and loneliness while waiting for John to return through the storm, and after Steven arrives she decides she has had enough. The blizzard helped to bring out the bitter isolation and indifference Ann already felt about her dismal life on the prairies.

The blizzard did not cause the affair, but merely provided a mood and opportunity for Ann to sleep with Steven. At no point before the actual incident of the affair does

The setting of a story not only includes the material, physical settings, but the context and the ‘mental’ settings of the character are important as well. Ann is still a young woman compared to John, “eager for excitement and distractions” (401) and finds her relationship with her husband monotonous; to the point where they don’t even talk to each other as she sees no point in “talk[ing] with a man who never talked” (399). In fact, Ann found most of her neighbours the same way; finding no reason to talk about crops, cattle and other neighbours with them. Ann was alone, with no one to bring any interest to her life with the exception of Steven. When Steven came over during the storm, she “felt eager” and “challenged” (403) for the first time in a while; she even changed into a dress and did her hair to impress him. Ann was not so much worried that her husband would get hurt coming home, but was more concerned about him interrupting what could be her only chance at bringing some excitement into her dull life. The isolation that the storm provided her and Steven brought out her most inner, unspoken