Reflecting on Sinclair Ross' "The Painted Door"
             In Sinclair Ross' "The Painted Door" Ann wakes from her night of temptation to find a spot of paint on her husband's frozen hand and she realized that "slowly and contritely through the day and years to come, she [must] try to make amends," for her actions. The statement seems only fair considering the extent to which her guilt alludes to her having committed adultery with Steven; however, I believe Ross meant the statement to stress a more profound idea.
             Ann struggles through the entire story with the obstacles and distance that separates her husband and her both physically and spiritually. When John does leave and the great storm begins Ann is left with her thoughts. It is here, I believe, that Ross begins to stress the importance of Ann's thoughts, the implications her thoughts have on her relationship with John in particular. As her thoughts move from her wants and needs of John to the appeal of Steven her cheating begins. The conflict within her mind forces Ann to begin painting the door; when later, as she reflects after her dream, we realize the importance of the act of painting. "...[A]t last, seized by a need to suffer and atone, she crossed to where the draught was bitter, and for a long time stood unflinching on the icy floor," describes Ross. Again Ann has begun to think, this time about her previous thoughts, her thoughts of Steven. As here she feels to atone she must give up her warmth, clearly, the painting was a penance for the conflict of her thoughts before the dream. The reader is led to believe that she did commit the sin of adultery; however, I believe her sin is strictly in her thoughts. When, in a moment of panic, she runs to wake Steven and kick him out, she laments: "For him nothing had happened; nothing would." I think it is clear here that no physical sin was committed. Ann&a...