Nineteen Fifty-Five and The Painted Door
            
             Bleak: cheerless: cold. Void: unoccupied, empty. Imagine waking up every day feeling like something's missing. Imagine living your life feeling so depressed that even if you are rich nothing will make you happy. Even if you are blessed with someone who loves you deeply and would do anything for you. In the stories Nineteen Fifty-Five and The Painted door the characters Traynor and Ann see life as bleak and empty because they both feel they are missing something in life, they are trying to fill a void, and they are unhappy with what they have.
            
             First, in both stories Ann and Traynor feel that they are missing something in their lives. For example, Traynor feels he is missing something because he can't write a great song like the one that made him rich and famous. Every time he tries to write a song he ends up hating it. He wants the world to know that he can not only sing music but write it as well. Until he can do this he feels emptiness deep inside himself. (Lalita Tademy was living a life most would envy. A rising vice-president at Sun Microsystems, she had reached a level of achievement that made her family proud. But something was missing.) (Scottrhone pg1) Similarly, in The Painted Door, Ann feels as though her life is missing something as well. She loves her husband but isn't feeling too good about their marriage. Ann feels that the reason she is missing something is because of her husband. Even though he is a dedicated husband he is lacking something that Ann needs in her life. Therefore, both Traynor and Ann feel that they are both missing something in their lives.
            
             Second, both Traynor and Ann try to fill voids in their lives. Traynor buys everything he has always wanted. He buys presents for people he loves. He buys so much that he doesn't know what to do with it all. Traynor tries to fill a void in his life with material thin...