Fidelity
The concept of fidelity—in the senses of both loyalty to a person and sexual faithfulness—is the central theme in "The Painted Door." Fidelity generates conflict in the story from its outset. When John informs Ann that he is going to check in on his father before the storm hits, Ann feels insecure about John's loyalty to his father, telling John, "It isn't right to leave me here alone. Surely I'm as important as your father." While left alone, Ann continues to dwell on the subject of fidelity, rebuking herself when she has critical thoughts about John's looks and naivety, reminding herself that he is a good husband. Simultaneously, she excuses herself by blaming John for neglecting spending quality time with her and for making her feel alienated and alone. As the story progresses, the lack of fidelity in Ann's thoughts transforms into a lack of sexual faithfulness. It is only after Ann sleeps with Steven that she realizes "John is the man" and their life together is full of dignity and love. Guilt prompts Ann to renew her fidelity to John. However, her change of heart comes too late, as John has discovered her betrayal and gone back out into the storm to die.
Perception vs. Reality
The tension between perception and reality is another of the story's major themes. While left alone with her thoughts, Ann's bitter mood prompts her to perceive her reality as wholly negative. In her mind, Ann paints John as slow, unambitious, incommunicative, and lacking passion. By contrast, she perceives Steven as companionable, young, exciting, and flirtatious. After Ann decides to betray John and sleep with Steven, her perceptions are revealed to both her and the reader as distortions. The guilt of having cheated on John causes Ann to look upon her marriage to John with a new appreciation. While John can be naïve, he cares about her deeply and has dedicated himself to her absolutely. She looks upon Steven as no longer the confident seducer but a man who is in his own ways naïve and, unlike John, not responsible. The theme of perception vs. reality also arises when Ann wakes to see John standing over her. She later convinces herself that she had merely dreamt up his presence, but the story ends with Ann discovering paint on John's palm—evidence that he had been in the bedroom and therefore her perception had been correct.
Isolation
Isolation—physical and emotional—is a dominant theme in "The Painted Door." Emphasized by the desolate, frozen prairie landscape, a sense of isolation haunts Ann as she considers her life with John. While the animals and crops the couple raises necessitate living away from a densely populated area, Ann's geographic isolation from stimulation is made worse by the emotional isolation of being married to a man who avoids conversation during the times they are meant to be relaxing together and enjoying each other's company. John is aware of the strain that isolation from other people takes on Ann, so John invites Steven over to give her someone other than him to talk to. However, John's solution to easing his wife's isolation precipitates her betrayal. As a final image to cement the theme of isolation, Ross ends the story with Ann alone outside on the snow-swept land, holding the hand of her dead husband's frozen corpse.
Resentment
Resentment is another of the story's major themes. From the outset of "The Painted Door," Ross makes Ann's resentment evident by detailing how she "moodily" turns her back to John and breathes on the frosted windowpane. Her responses to his reassurances are sarcastic, and although she momentarily acts kindly toward him while he is getting dressed to leave, when he is gone she broods about their life together, thinking resentfully about how he is slow, dull, broad, naïve, and unwilling to engage her in conversation about anything other than the quotidian concerns of his life as a farmer. Ann's resentment expands out from John to the prairie landscape itself: she sees the environment as hostile to human life and resents how the only social interaction available to her is dancing with old bent-backed farmers at barn dances. Ultimately, Ann's resentment is instrumental in her decision to cheat on John with Steven. But once she does, guilt dissolves her resentment as she realizes how loyal John has always been.
