The Painted Door Short Story

1679 Words7 Pages
ENG4U1 March 8 2012 Comparative Essay: "The Painted Door" and "The Lamp at Noon" Throughout “The Painted Door” and “A Lamp at Noon”, there are many similarities shared between the stories concerning the characters and their feelings and relationships between them. These short stories have many similarities and a good reason could be that Sinclair Ross is the author of both short stories and this is why they mirror each other when compared. Both stories are told from the same point of view and share very similar characteristics. In the short story "The Painted Door" by Sinclair Ross and the short story "The Lamp at Noon" also by Sinclair Ross the author explores similar settings and character feelings and relationships between the two short…show more content…
Within the short story "The Painted Door" Ann shows that she experiences feelings of depression, and isolation. Ann's negative mood is apparent through the story and can be seen at any time during the story. Ann's husband is named John and through the story she says many sarcastic and condescending comments, "plenty of wood to keep me warm - what more could a women ask for" (Ross 288). It is clear that Ann is unhappy with John and not satisfied with him. She does not want John to go to his father's house to check on him because she does not want to be left alone in the house when there is a snowstorm is taking place outside. Ann feels neglected and isolated "Seven years a farmer's wife - it's about time o was used to staying alone" (Ross 289). When John leaves feelings of isolation come over Ann and the feeling of isolation is mirrored in the story by the snowstorm that traps her in the house. Ann's feeling of isolation is also that she is completely alone in her house and the closest person is two hours away and she knows she can't leave her house because if she did she wouldn't make it. As the storm grows in strength so does Ann's sense of isolation 'The silence now seemed more intense than ever, seemed to have reached a pitch when it faintly moaned" (Ross 293). The silence spoken of depicts the growing isolation that Ann feels and that she feels trapped and cannot get out.…show more content…
Ellen is a mother who lives in a house in the parries of Canada. She has a young baby and a husband named Paul. When Paul leaves the house to go farm feelings of isolation overcome Ellen. "He seemed a long time. Even the clock, still a few minutes off noon..", time is going by slow for Ellen as she awaits for Paul to return to the house. Ellen becomes angry at Paul when she asks Paul to move out of the house "there was a dark resentment in her voice now..." so they can be away from the dust storm. Also Ellen wants to move because she thinks that it hard for their baby to breathe because of the dust in the air. The feeling of isolation creeps up on Ellen when Paul is not there and she knows that the nearest neighbors are far away and her house would be very hard to reach in the dust storm that she is experiencing. Another reason that Ellen feels isolated is of lack of communication with others this causes her to break down and eventually run away with the baby to try to get away from the storm "I'm so caged- if I could only break away and run". The character Ellen in the story "The Lamp at Noon" shows that she has feelings of sadness and feelings of isolation throughout the story and these feelings she cannot
Open Document