An in-depth analysis of the themes of loneliness and alienation in the story “The Painted Door” by Sinclair Ross
Date Submitted: Jan 4, 2010
Words: 1356
Disguised as nothing more than bizarre diction, Sinclair Ross is able to bring the reader into the world of “The Painted Door”. Throughout the story is a multitude of hidden messages which are only made clear through further analysis. Many of these hidden messages emphasize loneliness and alienation and can be seen from Ross’s usage of imagery, the way the betrayal of John was portrayed, and the mood of the story.
“The Painted Door” relies heavily on imagery to emphasize its point of loneliness. From the beginning of the story the theme of loneliness is introduced almost immediately. “The sun was risen above the frost mists now, so keen and hard a glitter on the snow that instead of warmth its rays seemed shedding cold.” Ann also states it was time she got used to staying home alone. We see that the sun has risen, however, it is claimed that it feels as though the sun was shedding rays of cold. This sentence is paradoxical as the word sun has connotations of warmth and happiness, and the word cold has connotations of loneliness. Both of these two terms are effective at affecting our mood and leaves the reader lost and unsure how to feel. By saying that the sun is shedding these waves of cold or “loneliness” Ross is actually using the sun as a medium to show the progression of Ann’s loneliness. This progression is also seen throughout the story such as when states “Rather they seemed to cower before the implacability of snow-swept earth and clear pale sun-chilled sky” uses the same method of emphasis. This quote is especially interesting because the two juxtaposed terms “snow-swept earth” and “sun-chilled sky” are paradoxical within itself.
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Upon reading this quote one would feel as though he/she is trapped. By associating both the Earth and the sky with words like chilled and snow-swept, Ross has left Ann nowhere to run. Ross is stating that the entire world to Ann feels lonely. Examples such as these two are observed throughout the entire story. Ross purposely did this in order to emphasize loneliness. When one is lonely, one’s mind will tend to wander off. The repetition of paradoxical terms symbolize a lonely person’s drifting mind, and in this case, Ann’s. It is also notable that loneliness is most commonly associated with fear. In this case it is the fear of being alone, and fear of dying alone. This can be seen Ross describes “The frost in the walls on a day like this would crack and peel it as it dried, but she needed something to keep her hands occupied, something to stave off the gathering cold and loneliness.” When the words “crack” and “peel” are together, the idea that is associated with these two words is that of the old or elderly. This shows Ann’s true fear of loneliness and her fear or being alone for the rest of her life. Although she is in a loving and committed relationship with John, she is unable to appreciate him for who he is. This shows the reader more about Ann and her personality, and suggests that perhaps Ann is not totally grateful for her husband. Although she tells herself that she is, it is suggested that somewhere in her subconscious, Ann regrets marrying John. The use of imagery allows the reader to easily develop a relationship towards Ann. It is through this relationship which allows the reader to understand loneliness as the concept of loneliness is an universal human emotion which applies to almost anyone given that they’ve experienced the emotion before.
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It is a fact that when a person is lonely they can go to extreme depths to alleviate their loneliness. This is demonstrated when Ann decides to spend the night with Steven even though she knows she is in a committed relationship with John. After sleeping with Steven, Ann wakes up and watches the shadows flicker against the wall. We then see stated within the story “Yet though it never reached her still she cowered, feeling that gathered there was all the frozen wilderness, its heart of terror and invincibility.” Ross uses very heavy diction within this line. When hearing the words “heart of terror” the thought of pure evil crosses our minds; by combining this pure evil with the word “invincible” one can assume that the feeling of loneliness felt by Ann was so great it shocked her to her very core. The word heart is almost always associated with positive connotations such as love, so when juxtaposed so closely with the word terror, the phrase “heart of terror”, symbolizes the fear Ann faces. This point of the story holds extreme irony. Initially, Ann was afraid of being alone. However, after she finds companionship, her fear of being alone is made even stronger, due to the fact that if John catches her, then Ann would lose her husband.
At the end of the story Ann realizes that John is the real man, the love of her life. She had become determined to make things right and to slowly make amends to John. As the next day comes; however, so does the storm along “Its terror blast became a feeble, worn-out moan.” This quote foreshadows the dead and broken hearted John. The storm which was once so strong, so terrifying, had become worn-out and feeble. It is quite likely that the description of the storm also applies towards John in the sense that he too is feeble and worn-out after seeing his wife in bed with another man. And just like Ann who desperately wished to alleviate her loneliness, John perhaps felt that death was the best way to alleviate the loneliness he felt after experiencing betrayal.
From the beginning to the end, the story holds a unique and eerie mood which allows for the further emphasis of loneliness. This is developed through the use of paradoxical phrases and terms as earlier discussed. The mood leads the reader to feel sorry for Ann but at the same time sympathize with John. As we can see, the mood itself is contradictory. John states in the beginning of the story that he is “naïvely proud of Ann. [And] he had been bewildered by it once, her caring for a dull-witted fellow like him; then assured at last of her affection he had relaxed against it gratefully, unsuspecting it might ever be less constant than his own.” This sense of pride becomes heavily contrasted with the betrayal of John later in the story which contributes to the mood. These two contrasting moods make the reader feel sorry and angry at the same time towards the actions of Ann. The reader can then easily relate to Ann because the ironic situation carries universal emotions, such as loneliness, that many humans can relate with. It is quite likely that this was the intent of Ross when he wrote this story. In order to understand the loneliness that made Ann act the way she did, the reader must also be able to experience it to a certain extent. This extent is achieved by imposing the mood onto the reader through the repetition of literary devices which emphasize loneliness. As one can see from reading the story that the repetition of literary devices may often feel as though the story was going off on a tangent. The amount of devices used to progress the story contribute to the mood by creating the illusion of loneliness, and thus, the reader can begin to relate to Ann. Ross proved through his complex use of diction that not only is he a skilled writer, but also a master in the understanding of human nature.
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The Painted Door is a story which holds many ideas relevant to the theme of loneliness and alienation. However, what’s interesting is not so much the theme itself, but the method in which Ross chose to present them. He was able to deliver them in such a way which makes the reader realize the pain of loneliness themselves.
