Ann is realistic character; she is multidimensional and recognizable as having complex relationships and motivations (Inside Stories). Ann spent a lot of time alone, and she seemed to dwell on all of the negative aspects of her life. She wanted to have some excitement instead of the monotony of her everyday life. "She was young still, eager for excitement and distractions; and John's steadfastness rebuked her vanity, made her complaints seem weak and trivial." She acts on this need for excitement and drama by going out into the snowstorm and by sleeping with Steven. Ann is a dynamic character; she undergoes a lasting change in her outlook of her life. She realized that "John was the man" and that her life was not as bad as she thought it was. "She re-lived their seven years together and, in retrospect, found them to be years of worth and dignity- Sinclair Ross uses symbolism with setting, imagery and the actions of the main character, Ann, in his story to create a dramatic look into the different emotions that Ann experiences. .
The desolate and mostly uninhabited land in which "The Painted Door" takes place produces an impression of extreme, almost unbearable isolation and loneliness. This connotation is symbolic of the lack of communication in Ann's marriage and the companionless direction her life has taken. The story takes place during the winter when the weather is very bad. "In the clear, bitter light the long white miles of prairie landscape seemed a region strangely alien to life. Even the distant farmsteads she could see served only to intensify a sense of isolation. Scattered across the face of so vast and bleak a wilderness it was difficult to conceive them as testimony of human hardihood and endurance. Rather they seemed futile, lost- Ross uses cold and fire to reflect Ann's changing emotions about her relationship with her husband. The warmth gives her a sense of security and it helps her fight off the loneliness.
