Sinclair Ross's story, "The Painted Door", tales place during the settler times on the prairies. The beginning of the novel is written as an omniscient narrative. At the end, the story shifts slightly to limited omniscient or third person; the reader has knowledge or both Ann and John's thoughts. The story builds suspense through rising action when John leaves in a deadly blizzard to reach his father's barn, and asks one of his friends, Steven, over to care for his wife, Ann. Ann is left alone in their little barn and tries to keep her mind free of the loneliness that is slowly ripping her from the inside out. Eventually, the young and handsome Steven arrives. In the end, Ann is unable to resist Steven's charisma and gives herself in to him. John arrives home late and finds his wife cheating on him with Steven.
             The reader can know that John is a very loving and responsible husband. Even in such a dangerous storm, he still walks miles back to his own home to tend to his wife. The reader can only imagine how difficult it is for John to find out that his wife has been cheating on him with a close friend of his. I believe John will go through a total of three stages, first is astonishment, disappointment, and finally disgust.
             At first when John walks in that door and sees his wife sleeping with Steven, he will be extremely astonished at the sickening sight before him. John and Steven were friends, so, that's is why John purposely walked off his course in such a fierce blizzard to Steven's house so that Steven could come and make company to his wife, but John would never have thought that Steven would do such a nasty thing. As John stares at this ugly sight with total astonishment, his astonishment eventually turns into utter disappointment.
             John is now utterly disappointed at Ann, and how she could just throw away the seven years they had together, and forget all the memories they shared.
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