Doors as Symbols of Hope, Fear, Continuity, Mystery, and Ideas

A man walks through millions of doorways in his lifetime. He may walk in through an open door, or open a closed door, or close an open door. A door has to be forced open sometimes. You may lose the key to your door and might have to break it open to enter the house. These myriad and constant interactions with doors have made them a part of the human subconscious as well, as seen by the extensive usage of doors as symbols by artists and writers and moviemakers. Even in day-to-day conversation, usages like 'He opened the doors of his heart' are quite common.

The opening of a door has forever been treated as a symbol of new hope, and acceptance, in prose, poetry, and drama. In movies, it is common for directors to show the slow opening of a door to symbolize the beginning of a new life, or the hope for a better life, or new opportunities. In a related sense, the opening of doors is also symbolic of passage of time, and of change. If the opening of a door has positive connotations in art and literature, closing of a door has negative connotations. Closing of doors is used as a symbol of refusal, of impossibility. A closed door also signifies a break with the past, or is used to show that a thing is fait accompli and cannot be changed.

Doors are also used in a symbolic way to separate the past and the future. The outside of the door is portrayed as the future while the inside is portrayed as the past. Doors are also seen as a symbol of refuge, and references to God in most religions speak of the opening of the door of His grace. Closed doors are also a symbol of mystery, and horror moviemakers have made abundant use of doors to create sensations of terror and fear. Doorknobs turning on their own, or banging doors, have been used to give the scary effect. Slamming doors, or doors swinging in different directions with a whipping wind, are imagery used to convey a sense of confusion. The creaking sound of a door is also used to scare.

While creative arts have used doors as symbols of change, hope, survival, or negation, there are physical doors that are more symbols than actual barriers. A saloon door, which covers a space only partially, and has no locking mechanism, is more a symbol of a door than a real door. A lasting representation of doors as symbols is seen on some tombs. In Egypt, many tombs of earlier periods had false doors painted on to them. These did not open or close but were kept there as symbols of communication channels for the dead to retain their communication with the living world.

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