Isolation In The Painted Door

The natural landscape and the winter storm in “The Painted Door” serve as a metaphor for Ann’s sense of isolation. The story uses the atmosphere and its surroundings to foreshadow the reader about the main character Ann’s emotions and mood. The farm that Ann and John live at, is very isolated from everyone. The closest neighbour they have is “five miles away” from them. Ann isolation is emotional and physical ,she especially feels isolated from the one person she’s suppose to feel the completely opposite about. In the story we learned that John is very hard working, he shows his love to Ann by working hard to get her the things she wants. The setting of the story, the environment surrounding Ann is isolated, depressing and cold. Ann feels emotionally blocked from the walls that John has put up.

Ellie becomes increasingly at one with nature, and feels the safest in the wild. Before her experiences, Ellie was the typical rural who appreciated her simple life. However, she develops a special bond with nature because of what she has been through. One night in Hell, she has a serious think about her experiences and the people that are in danger, and realises that she ‘was coping OK with tough circumstances,’ thanks to the friends she has, and her beautiful natural surroundings: ‘I felt like I had grown from its soil like the silent trees’ show how nature is a big part of Ellie’s life. ‘This was my country,’ highlights Ellie’s determination to fight for what she had before the invasion.

The theme of isolation is a heavy premise throughout all three books that help to shape not only certain characters but also provide insight on fundamental qualities of their identities. The object of this essay is to prove who seems to be the most solitary character between the books Light in August by William Faulkner, A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In these stories, the idea of isolation is the loneliness that has been experienced in a characters life. Some characters have experienced their loneliness since early childhood while others have been kept isolated involuntarily. Although these three characters have taken different approaches in their lives, they all ended up isolated from society. As Alfred Kazin believes that Joe Christmas is the most solitary character in American fiction, I would like to discuss how both the villain in A Good Man is Hard to Find and the heroine of The Yellow Wallpaper would not rival Kazin’s opinion. Joe Christmas in Light in August proves to be the most solitary character I have read about, as he is never able to become a full member of society.

In a society of people all in the same situations how can someone feel so alone. When lives fall apart and people have nothing to hold on to people need each other most, yet are pushed so far from others. The novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, follows the storyline of two men who are displaced farm workers during the Great Depression; they travel around and stick by each other’s sides no matter the circumstance. After many jobs they end up on a farm,the farm they hope will be their last stop. The time spent on the farm is filled with blooming friendships and careless quarrels, yet with an abundance of characters and entertainment- many people on the farm feel alone and out of place. Characters such as Crooks and Curley’s wife often come to mind when the subject of loneliness is brought up. Throughout the book using characters such as Crooks and Curley's wife, John Steinbeck demonstrates that humans are immensely impacted by separation from society and it will change the way that people will act and show themselves to others.

The effect that the landscape has on the characters is very significant. Through the use of figurative language, Kent is able to covey the landscape and how it emphasizes many of the emotions felt by the characters. In the text characters live in Icelandic society where long distance communication is hard and fast communication is even harder. With the weather being the way it is; bitterly cold and oppressive, it reflects on each character and their emotions felt through the book. Particularly the oppressive snowfall throughout the text leaves the characters feeling claustrophobic and confined. In turn this allows each character to express these feelings in their own individual way. Margaret, the mother is trapped in her own house in a repetitive cycle of her own making. Agnes is caught in her own inner turmoil, and Margaret’s daughters are also trapped in a cycle, fated to live a

Wisdom and Knowledge are related to the painted door as Ann experiences loneliness and isolation from her husband John since he is occupied with work all day. "Pay no attention to me. Seven years a farmer 's wife - it 's time was used to staying alone." John leaves, trusting both Ann and Steven to have a friendly game of cards. When John returns he sees the unexpected, he finds both Anna and Steven in bed, at the sight of that John rushes out and freezes himself to death. Ann now will have to use her wisdom through her knowledge and experience to face her, even more, loneliness and isolated future without john. Sinclair believes that Isolation will test and perhaps divide relationships.

The author Sinclair Ross is implying that the natural landscape and the environment in “The Painted Door” serve as a metaphor for Ann’s sense of isolation. In the beginning of the story, Ann mentions that “There was a double wheel around the moon” which leads Ann to believe that they “could expect a storm”. Ann’s uneasiness for the storm to come foreshadows the storm that would separate Ann and John, leaving Ann all alone with nothing but her thoughts until Steven arrives. Ann later observes the “distant farmsteads” which she believes serve “to intensify a sense of isolation” in Ann before John leaves. This is a direct metaphor on John and Ann’s relationship, John is being very “distant” in their relationship and as a result Ann feels a “sense of isolation” in their relationship and that she wanted “something of John” and “not pretty clothes, when she would be too old to wear them”.

In a healthy relationship, both parties should be able to openly confide in one another, and understand that the other’s intentions are to benefit the other and yet respectfully compromise on decisions together. With that said, in Sinclair Ross’s short story entitled The Painted Door, the message of how lack of communication can result in dire circumstances is exquisitely envisioned. Moreover, as the seemingly conventional young rural couple’s story gradually progresses, the implications of Ann, the emotionally suppressed wife of John being left alone during an unbearable blizzard fatally brings to end their partnership. Through symbolism and other literary devices, Ross cleverly constructs the themes of isolation and loyalty in this 1939

In David Cassuto’s essay “Turning Wine into Water: Water as Privileged Signifier in ‘The Grapes of Wrath”, the author highlights both the importance of water in the Great Plains in the 1930’s and the importance of water in the Joad’s journey. Cassuto focuses especially on the land’s need for water and, despite the necessity of water, on how it was a “commodity” and a “symbol of wealth.” He calls to mind the separation of class ever-present in Steinbeck’s novel and how it was based on who had control of the water. He also points out that the abundance of water during the flooding works as a “maximum counterpoint” to the Dust Bowl droughts. Cassuto proposes that “Steinbeck weaves water into the novel’s structure as well as virtually every thematically significant event”. Cassuto concludes that the conflict between water and land is as prevalent in the novel as the men and their women and the duality with the men and their land.

A character named Ann in the story The Painted Door is a woman who is in a relationship with a loving husband. He leaves his lonely wife on the quest to go look after his father for the day, walking through a storm. Their illustrious neighbour charms Ann and she succumbs to the doubts of her own marriage, resulting in an affair. In the short story, The Painted Door, the author Sinclair Ross develops the idea that when individuals lack communication in their relationship, a tension arises that can crumble the relationship altogether, due to the lack of understanding of each other’s needs, which is vital to the success of a long-lasting relationship.

In Willa Cather’s novel My Ántonia, Cather uses the theme of the natural world to further expand on the persona of the character, Jim Burden, and his romantic outlook on life. Jim shows a strong bond to nature because it brings back his idyllic childhood memories and the feelings he had of absolute bliss. By connecting the theme of nature to his childhood, Jim presents the idea that he feels dissatisfied as an adult in the city and misses his life on the farm where he was in union with nature. Moreover, Jim links Ántonia, the most important person from his childhood, to the idea of nature. He recognizes that the familiar feeling of utter happiness brought to him by nature is also brought to him by Ántonia; therefore, his memories of Ántonia coincide with the natural world around him. Jim’s ability to make the most minute occurrences in the natural world hold a deeper, more profound meaning, such as his elaborate depiction of a sunset from his childhood, asserts him as a romantic character. Furthermore, Cather correlates the changes of the seasons and the development of the farmland to further illustrate Jim’s growth as a character. In particular, she uses the transition from winter to spring to highlight Jim’s character growth as a result of the impact the tragic events of winter had on him. Additionally, Cather connects the beginning of Jim’s life in Nebraska to the new, empty lands of the Nebraskan plains and ties his progression as a character with the development of the

The plot develops and is more rich as the landscape becomes more and more evident. It is obvious that based on the nature both authors, Macleod and Laurence experienced living on their respective coasts adds greatly to their stories. Alistair Macleod clearly uses the nature and landscape to add to the memories and stories he recalls from his childhood. This definitely connects the reader on a deeper level and encourages them to read on and learn more. “In the weeks that followed their loss, the sun shone brightly and the currents were strong, and the ice turned black beneath its own whiteness, as if eaten by a hidden cancer which only now began to make itself visible.”

In conjunction with the symbolic representation of Elisa’s life, the dramatic description of the environment can also be seen as a unique representation of the relationship conflict between husband and wife. Steinbeck’s foggy description demonstrates conflict through the following statement, "a time of quiet and waiting." This description is interesting because the fields are personified as waiting for rain, however, “rain and fog do not go together” therein lies the conflict just as Elisa waits for a positive change in how her husband treats her (Palmerino, Gregory J). Gregory P. further points out that, “The natural elements of the foothills ranch seem as unwilling to confront each other as the characters that inhabit its environs. Hence, fog and rain can be seen as the female and male equivalents to Elisa and Henry.” This only further solidifies the deep rooted troubles within Elisa and her relationship with her husband. The setting of the story is personified to act as a symbolic representation of the couple’s relationship (Steinbeck, John 337-338).

At some point in one’s life there is not only contentment or grief, but a state of loneliness. Loneliness is a part of human life, although some suffer from isolation more than others. Being lonely can lead to depression or create a different persona in oneself. Struggling through isolation can eventually kill one’s soul, expecting no hope or ending up in dangerous situations. The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck portrays the theme of loneliness especially through two characters. Crooks and Curley’s wife experience the state of isolation as they crave for a friend or someone they can talk with. Steinbeck urges readers to feel pathos when analyzing Crooks and Curley’s wife through the nature of their isolation, their actions and

It was a bright winter’s day, but the bay was quiet. Little wind stirred the surf on the pebble beach and the forest loomed silent and brooding. The tribe milled around the bay camp. They clumped in twos and threes, speaking only in short bursts, almost whispering as if afraid of waking something. For the first time her own sense that all was not as it should be seemed to have infected the rest of her people. The relief and excitement they had felt when they emerged from the sea had been eroded away in less than a week.