Ann falling in love with Steven is not an accident, but instead, a part of John's plan. John knew a storm was coming (Pg. 47. You said yourself we could expect a storm) so he left the house. He then invited Steve to his house sot hat Ann and Steven were alone together. Ann, having been flattered by Steve (Pg. 51. Such a storm to face, I should feel flattered), fell in love with him. Moreover, Ross foreshadowed that John will carry out his plan by the skillful use of the card game as a symbol. The fact that Ann never had a say in the out come of the story was shown by Ann's own words on Pg. 55, " . . . I will watch and let John play." John was the person controlling the out come of the story. Ann was merely a prize to be won. Furthermore, we can assume that John setup Ann to fall in love and have sex with Steven owing to the fact that John planned this card game as Ann said on Pg. 58, " We"re going to play cards, He was the one suggested it.".
Although this story had often been taught emphasizing that Ann was the unfaithful wife who betrayed her husband, one may still argue it was John who setups the whole incident. John's purpose in setting them up was to make Ann happy and his reason was to show Ann his devotion though sacrifice. Moreover, the card game as symbol was used by Sinclair Ross as a device to unfold what really happened. Sinclair Ross never directly told us that John was responsible for causing Ann's adultery; however, John's clear intention, motives and a workable plan reveled the possibility. .
For a short story to be effective, it must be able to produce high levels of intensity, emotion and drama. To do this, it must convey a great deal of information in a short space of time. As a result, the short story usually leaves a great deal of its content open to interpretation and examination by the reader and it tends to have some interesting parallels within the story itself.
