In general I found the novel to be interesting and well detailed. Women were considered to be housewives that could not think for themselves. Furthermore they went even lower into being considered possessions and decorations of the house. However Ibsen contradicts this idea in this novel by exploring every aspect of life that Nora lives. Ibsen strongly believes women should be considered on equal grounding as men despite their physical strength. By the end of the novel Nora shows her resolve by reaching her breaking point and within the novel she experiences a struggle which triggers it. Everything starts out with her borrowing money from a man named Krogstad. Things progress when Nora forges her father’s signature in order for her family to survive. Time passes, they manage to pull through and on top of that Torvald gets promoted to manager status. Conflict occurs when Krogstad learns that he is about to lose his job so he blackmails Nora saying if he loses his job he will unmask her and bring her down with him. Without furthermore address he says that he wants a higher position and that he will crush Torvald and become the manager himself. By putting her in such a situation, she doesn’t know what to do, which stimulates her mind. However Christine says that if he truly loves her he would most likely be willing to change his mind. She tries convincing Torvald but, he doesn’t even think about it and just send the letter to Krogstad. This is where Nora is starting to understand and start thinking for herself that maybe he doesn’t love her.
I understood the overall theme and message of the novel, however I did not get this quote. I assure you… “(Ibsen 78 Act 3). Ibsen puts Torvald in a situation to prove himself as a man that Nora wanted. Sadly I was disappointed to see Torvald overwhelmed with fear from the mail. Ibsen sets up a perfect setting where Torvald had to sacrifice his honor or his wife. Without hesitation he flips out and blames everything that happened on her despite the sacrifices she made for him. I strongly disliked how Torvald completely ignores the fact that his life was saved because Nora had done that. Nora then gets a grasp of reality and discovers she never really loved Torvald for a man. While unfolding her flaws she also realizes she doesn’t know who she is herself, that she has just been merely a doll for Torvald to play with. I mean that I was simply transferred… “(Ibsen 76 Act 3).
What got me the most was the fact that she was going to leave her children so she could find out more about herself. Ibsen uses Christine as a foil character to Nora to display the difference in intelligence. Christine was an old friend of hers that she hadn’t seen in 10 years but, one day decided to show at the doorsteps. Christine was kind of a role model towards Nora because she knew more about life and she knew what happiness was. She was the spark for Nora in order for her to open her eyes and truly ask herself if she was happy with what she had. Personally I think if it wasn’t for Christine I don’t think Nora would have been able to strengthen her resolve into action.
Ibsen illustrates perfectly the social status of a woman in the 1900s but, I feel like it would be harder to understand today why women would do such things because throughout the whole novel I disliked Nora’s action any lies. I didn’t understand why she couldn’t even eat sweets because her husband said so. Overall Ibsen did a really good job comparing the male superior social status compared to a female.
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