Theme and The Painted Door

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Theme and Story Discussion

How many characters play a role in The Painted Door? Write your answer in numbers.

What are their names?

1. Bill, John and Darla.
2. John, Gavin and Amy
3. Ann, John and William
4. Ann, John and Steven

Steven

John

loyal

handsome

reliable

sexy

young

loves Ann

Now what?

If you did not score enough points, you will probably not have read this story, or you haven't paid enough attention to what you were reading.

Please leave the classroom and read the story. 

Come back once you have finished.

He regrets this 

Identifying the theme of The Painted Door:
Look at title and setting.
What do they mean? Why did the author choose them?

Title: the painted door: proof that he was there, that he risked his life to keep his word (while she was betraying him!)

Setting: isolated spot, even more so because of the snow and the cold: loneliness

Identifying theme:
Repetitions: what do you notice?

Silence: oppresses Ann, almost like a presence. Symbolises her loneliness

Clock ticking: time passing by

Snow: Nothing but white outside the window: loneliness

Stephen keeps saying that the storm is too fierce, John won't risk it. Trying to reassure herself, telling herself there is nothing to worry about, he will never know

But after she wakes in the middle of the night, she knows he always makes it, no storm has ever been able to stop him 

John working hard for a relaxed future, Ann wants to enjoy life now, while they are young: they want different things from life and don't understand the other person very well

 

Identifying theme:
Do the characters change? Do they get a new insight? See things in a different way? Learn lessons?

After having slept with Steven, Ann realises that "John was the man." She feels that Steven is still handsome and young, but John is her man. Steady, loyal, loving. The one she needs to be with. She wants to make amends. Only to discover that he had come home and left again to die in the storm.  

John and Stephen don't change.

Themes in this story are:

• loyalty 
• men and women
• isolation vs connection
• time and aging

Use a few minutes to talk to your classmate and explain why these are themes in this story. 

Wheras John is obviously still very much in love with Ann after 7 years, she hankers for a change of life, for adventure. He is loyal and she sacrifices what she has with him for a fling.

Men are constant, strong, all body, not much thinking. Women rely on men to save them and take care of them

Ann feels alone and isolated on the farm in the blizzard. She wants to feel connected, or more connected to her husband, but also to the world. Now she only sees John and sometimes the neighbours, but her life is always the same - boring.

The seven years of their marriage have been the same and will be the same. Time is passing by, Ann feels, and she is growing old, wasting her youth and life, labouring day after day.