In "The Painted Door", Sinclair Ross is conveying the idea that some choices that people make in life may not be worth the risk. Decisions must be made each day in order to ensure that our lives carry on the way we want them to. These decisions however, may come with either success or failure, depending on the choices we make are actually the best ones to be made or not. The choices we make …showed first 75 words of 708 total…

…showed last 75 words of 708 total…are for Ann. The sudden termination of the story fails to reveal both what John's motivations were, and what Ann's future holds. This is where Ann fully realizes her love for John but unfortunately it is too late. The choice that Ann ultimately made with Steven was not worth the final result, the result of having John, whom she has true love for, die in the snow, with a smear of paint on his hand.