Comparison Of Nora From A Doll House And 'How I Met My Husband'

Nora from A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen and Edie from “How I Met My Husband” by Alice Munro, have to overcome obstacles in their lives to become independent women. Nora and Edie start out by being naive, child-like, and rely on a man. While the authors didn’t wrote their works to be feminist, the play and the short story shows feminism in the women of the work. In the short story, Edie is still a teenager trying to become a woman and realizes there are two types of women in life. While Nora is an adult she still acts like a teenager, playing “hide and seek” with her children (Ibsen Act I 1108). They both show characteristics of childness and immaturity. They both try to cover their immaturity by acting like adults, but do not achieve it.

Edie wants to become a lady like Mrs. Peebles. When Mrs. Peebles is out of the house, Edie goes inside her room and plays dress up. She goes into her closet and wears Mrs. Peeble’s “light bluish green, almost silvery” dress and puts on makeup (Munro 129). Edie is seen as a woman by looking that way which makes Chris believe she is the house lady. Chris complaints her not realizing she is only a teenager. It was uncommon for a man to complaint “a woman or somebody he is treating like a woman” (Munro 130), but Edie was still a child and did not realize that. Throughout the short story Chris treats Edie as a woman and Edie pretends to be one. In the case of A Doll House, Nora is an adult, but is not in control of her life and allows her husband to control her. When the costume party was held, Torvald choiced the costume for Nora. Nora’s costume was a doll in which Nora’s character fitted the costume because she acted like one. Torvald was attracted to Nora dressed like a doll like Chris was attracted to Edie dressed as a woman. Nora and Edie were both seen as someone they were actually not. The men saw loved in them because they saw someone else that Nora and Edie were

They didn’t realize what was actually happening. Edie does not realize that Chris is a man that is with one girl after another one that “he couldn’t settle down to ordinary life” (Munro 133). She believed he would come back for her that she was his loved after the kissed she had with him. Edie does not see that Alice Kelling has been running after Chris that “Edie, herself, becomes the next victim and castaway” (Tudor 130). When Alice Kelling and Mrs. Peebles accuse Edie for having an affair with Chris, the naive Edie believes that having an affair meant kissing which would led to having a baby. One can see how naive Edie was that she doesn’t see that Chris will not come back for her after one