Frozen Silence (Symbol)
The "frozen silence" that disturbs Ann while alone in the house is a symbol for the isolation and alienation Ann feels in her life as a farmer's wife. After John leaves to walk to his father's farm, Ann attends to the fire in the stove. But her movements are furtive and restrained. Ross writes that she feels "the silence weighing upon her—the frozen silence of the bitter fields and sun-chilled sky—lurking outside as if alive, relentlessly in wait, mile-deep between her now and John." The silence continues to haunt Ann over the course of the story, a constant reminder of her loneliness and lack of fulfillment. Gradually, the silence contributes to Ann's feelings of alienation from her husband. The alienation, and its accompanying resentment, grows so profound that she sleeps with Steven.
Double Wheel Around the Moon (Symbol)
The "double wheel around the moon" mentioned several times in "The Painted Door" is a symbol for coming calamity. When discussing whether John should visit his father, Ann reminds John of the double wheel around the moon he saw the night before, because the double halo effect that results from moonbeams refracting through high-altitude ice crystals suggests that a severe storm is coming. Ann tries to use this sign—a mix of superstition and folk knowledge—to convince him of the danger of leaving her to face the storm alone. The doubling of the halos also suggests that two calamities are coming: the literal winter storm and the rupture in their marriage.
Paint on John’s Palm (Symbol)
The smear of white paint that Ann finds on John's palm at the end of the story is a symbol for John's knowledge of Ann's infidelity. While Ann had convinced herself that she only dreamt up John's presence in their bedroom while she slept next to Steven, the paint on John's palm shows he had in fact entered the house and touched the still-wet bedroom door. With this symbol, Ross implies that John felt so heartbroken by Ann's cheating that he decided to go back out into the storm and freeze to death.
