Gender Relations in A Doll’s House and How Did I Miss You?

2373 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Role of the woman in literature

Gender Relations refers to the power relations between men and women. Under patriarchal society, men and women do not stand on an equal ground, men shows superiority and women have lower status than men. Under patriarchal values, men possess higher status and act a dominant role, women are obliged to live according to their gendered roles, to be submissive. This notion of gender relations is like a culture, it affects how men and women interact and perceive one another, it also propagates though interactions between men and women. The imbalanced power relations between men and women can be found in a lot of Western and Chinese writings.

A Doll’s House is a play written by Henrik Ibsen. In A Doll’s House, Henirk Ibsen presents the female protagonist, Nora, as a conventional woman living in a patriarchal society. Nora had to follow the rules and customs. She always had to mask her unconventional traits in front of her husband. Through the interaction between Nora and Torvald, the imbalanced power relations between men and women is shown. Torvald had more rights than Nora, and he just treated Nora as a possession of him. For Nora, she had to mask herself to accommodate to the patriarchal society. Finally she transformed into a New Women, breakthrough the patriarchal values and leave the confinement to search for her self. Through A Doll’s House, Ibsen criticizes the patriarchal values that society accepts.

For How Did I Miss You, Zhang Xinxin presents the imbalanced power relations between men and women through the nameless female protagonist and male protagonist. They both symbolize the many men and women who lived in China during the Cultural Revolution. In the story, the female protagonist tried hard to pursue equal status wit...

... middle of paper ...

...ates to men. To become an real individual, a woman has to leave her gendered role and seek her own life. It would be a difficult time for women. Henrik Ibsen thus reminds society of the imbalanced power relations and society should solve the problem. For How Did I Miss You, Zhang Xinxin presents the imbalance of power between female and male sex in China. The female protagonist acts as a mirror of millions of female in China. She suffers due to her unconventional traits and through How Did I Miss You, Zhang Xinxin depicts the difficult process of a woman to pursue an equal status with men.

Works Cited

Henrik Ibsen. Four Major Plays. Trans. James McFarlane and Jens Arup. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1981.

Tam, K.K., Yip, Terry S.H., and Dissanayake, Wmal, eds. A place of one's own : stories of self in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.

Show More
Related

  • Gender Roles In The Jade Peony

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    The united States Declaration of independence states that all men are equal, but aren’t all women as well? Nowadays, the numbers for the population are at an increase for the support in gender equality, with the capture of feminist labels. The seek for equality between men and women, and criticize the privileges that arouse by gender differences. However in Old China, males control almost everything due to a patriarchal society. At that time, not only men, but also women are influenced by male chauvinism. In the Jade Peony, written by Wayson Choy, female characters are affected by an unequal perspective despite their age group.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Growing Up In The People's Republic

    1843 Words  | 4 Pages

    Growing up in the People’s Republic is a detailed account of two individual women’s generational struggle during the controversial periods of The Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and the Cultural Fever of the 1980’s. Their case study tries to define their individual identity growing up in a Communist China. Ma Xiadong and Ye Weili’s life allow the reader to understand the struggle that ensued for the individual at a time of change that was the Cultural Revolution.

    Read More

  • Gender Stratification in China's One Child Policy

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is the root of the cause of the gender stratification among males and females in China. Since women are viewed as unequal and baby girls are often unwanted by parents there is a sort of stigma that surrounds the Chinese woman in her society. They are not seen as equals to men and they are often socially unequal as well. The men have all the power and prestige in their society. Baby girls are often abandoned or killed so that they can have another child in the hopes that there is going to be a baby boy. We see this unequal access to power evident in the scene where the Chinese woman talks about how her husband threatened to send her away if she did not give him a baby boy. Gender stratification is a very large problem in China and has recently been decreased in level. New ideas about women’s right and worth have sprung up in China are spreading

    Read More

  • A Doll's House A Raisin in the Sun

    3074 Words  | 7 Pages

    Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus.           Boston: Bedford/ST. Martin’s, 2001. 659 – 688.

    Read More

  • Du Tenth Sinks The Jewel Box In Anger Analysis

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    Power and Money do not Substitute Love and as it denotes, it is a deep feeling expressed by Feng Menglong who was in love with a public figure prostitute at his tender ages. Sadly, Feng Menglong was incapable to bear the expense of repossessing his lover. Eventually, a great merchant repossessed his lover, and that marked the end of their relationship. Feng Menglong was extremely affected through distress and desperation because of the separation and he ultimately, decided to express his desolation through poems. This incidence changed his perception and the way he represents women roles in his stories. In deed, Feng Menglong, is among a small number of writers who portrayed female as being strong and intelligent. We see a different picture build around women by many authors who profoundly tried to ignore the important role played by them in the society. Feng Menglong regards woman as being bright and brave and their value should never be weighed against

    Read More

  • Jade of Peony

    2075 Words  | 5 Pages

    Firstly, the relationship expectations in Chinese customs and traditions were strongly held onto. The daughters of the Chinese family were considered as a shame for the family. The sons of the family were given more honour than the daughters. In addition, some daughters were even discriminated. “If you want a place in this world ... do not be born as a girl child” (Choy 27). The girls from the Chinese family were considered useless. They were always looked down upon in a family; they felt as if the girls cannot provide a family with wealth. Chinese society is throwing away its little girls at an astounding rate. For every 100 girls registered at birth, there are 118 little boys in other words, nearly one seventh of Chinese girl babies are going missing (Baldwin 40). The parents from Chinese family had a preference for boys as they thought; boys could work and provide the family income. Due to Chinese culture preference to having boys, girls often did not have the right to live. In the Chinese ethnicity, the family always obeyed the elder’s decision. When the family was trying to adapt to the new country and they were tryin...

    Read More

  • Wild Swans Analysis

    1456 Words  | 3 Pages

    The early part of the novel shows women’s place in Chinese culture. Women had no say or position in society. They were viewed as objects, and were used as concubines and treated with disparagement in society. The status of women’s social rank in the 20th century in China is a definite positive change. As the development of Communism continued, women were allowed to be involved in not only protests, but attended universities and more opportunities outside “house” work. Communism established gender equality and legimated free marriage, instead of concunbinage. Mao’s slogan, “Women hold half of the sky”, became extremely popular. Women did almost any job a man performed. Women were victims by being compared to objects and treated as sex slaves. This was compared to the human acts right, because it was an issue of inhumane treatment.

    Read More

  • Kingston's China Men

    431 Words  | 1 Pages

    Is it because he was a woman that he cried out at the sight of a child being harmed?  Did he not cry out at the death of his wife because she was a woman?  The role of the female in this story reveals a sense of inferiority towards women. These questions that the story raises show how women were viewed as inferior and weak in the eyes of the Chinese culture.

    Read More

  • A Doll’s House

    1504 Words  | 4 Pages

    The enforcement of specific gender roles by societal standards in 19th century married life proved to be suffocating. Women were objects to perform those duties for which their gender was thought to have been created: to remain complacent, readily accept any chore and complete it “gracefully” (Ibsen 213). Contrarily, men were the absolute monarchs over their respective homes and all that dwelled within. In Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, Nora is subjected to moral degradation through her familial role, the consistent patronization of her husband and her own assumed subordinance. Ibsen belittles the role of the housewife through means of stage direction, diminutive pet names and through Nora’s interaction with her morally ultimate husband, Torvald. Nora parades the façade of being naïve and frivolous, deteriorating her character from being a seemingly ignorant child-wife to a desperate woman in order to preserve her illusion of the security of home and ironically her own sanity. A Doll’s House ‘s depiction of the entrapment of the average 19th century housewife and the societal pressures placed upon her displays a woman’s gradual descent into madness. Ibsen illustrates this descent through Torvald’s progressive infantilization of Nora and the pressure on Nora to adhere to societal norms. Nora is a woman pressured by 19th century societal standards and their oppressive nature result in the gradual degradation of her character that destroys all semblances of family and identity.Nora’s role in her family is initially portrayed as being background, often “laughing quietly and happily to herself” (Ibsen 148) because of her isolation in not only space, but also person. Ibsen’s character rarely ventures from the main set of the drawi...

    Read More

  • A Doll's House Sacrifice Analysis

    2126 Words  | 5 Pages

    Henrik Ibsen paints a sad picture of the sacrificial role of women throughout all social economical classes in his play “A Doll House”. The story is set in the late 19th century and all minor female characters had to overcome adversity to the expense of love, family and self-realization, in order to lead a comfortable life. While the main female protagonist Nora struggles with her increasingly troubled marriage, she soon realizes, she needs to change her life to be happy as the play climaxes. Her journey to self-discovery is achieved by the threat of her past crime and her oppressing husband, Torvald and the society he represents. The minor female characters exemplifying Nora’s ultimate sacrifice.

    Read More

  • An analysis of A Doll’s House main theme: Independence

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Nora Helmer is a traditional “angel in the house” she is a human being, but first and foremost a wife and a mother who is devoted to the care of her children, and the happiness of her husband. The play is influenced by the Victorian time period when the division of men and women was evident, and each gender had their own role to conform to. Ibsen’s views on these entrenched values is what lead to the A Doll’s House becoming so controversial as the main overarching theme of A Doll’s House is the fight for independence in an otherwise patriarchal society. This theme draws attention to how women are capable in their own rights, yet do not govern their own lives due to the lack of legal entitlement and independence. Although Ibsen’s play can be thought to focus on the theme of materialism vs. people, many critics argue that Ibsen challenges the traditional gender roles through his portrayal of Nora and Torvald. Throughout the play Nora faces an internal struggle for self-discovery, which Ibsen creates to show that women are not merely objects, but intelligent beings who form independent thoughts.

    Read More

  • The Controversial Theme of A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

    1998 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his play, A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen depicts a female protagonist, Nora Helmer, who dares to defy her husband and forsake her "duty" as a wife and mother to seek out her individuality. A Doll's House challenges the patriarchal view held by most people at the time that a woman's place was in the home. Many women could relate to Nora's situation. Like Nora, they felt trapped by their husbands and their fathers; however, they believed that the rules of society prevented them from stepping out of the shadows of men. Through this play, Ibsen stresses the importance of women's individuality. A Doll's House combines realistic characters, fascinating imagery, explicit stage directions, and an influential setting to develop a controversial theme.

    Read More

  • Feminism In A Doll's House

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order to explore the theme of feminism in Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, the following must be considered: the roles men and women are expected to have, what feminism is, the different ways that feminism can be shown in the play, and finally how feminism effects marriage. The roles that men and women are expected to have is a major contributor to the different ways that feminism is shown in the play, as well as how feminism effects marriage. Therefore, there must be a clear understanding as to what these expectations are so that the effects of following or rejecting these roles can be seen. In addition, there has to be knowledge of how following or rejecting these roles influences feminism in this play. Another thing that must be understood in order for there to be a clear viewpoint on what is being analyzed in Ibsen's work is what feminism is.

    Read More

  • Gender Inequality In A Doll's House Essay

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the late 1800s, gender inequality was one of the common issues that existed in the society. Men and women were often distinguished among themselves. Men were regularly portrayed as the one who had power and strength, whereas women were supposed to do all the household work and they were seen as weak and trivial. Henrick Ibsen shows a prefect illustration of this example in the play A Doll’s House. Ibsen develops a notion of how the existence of gender roles in society affected one’s lives. The protagonist Nora, whose identity is shaped after seeing her husband’s actions, which depicts his beliefs of gender inequality, demonstrates this idea.

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare vs Henrik Ibsen

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen are two great authors of their time and are still read by many today. William Shakespeare wrote many plays; one that is more well known is Hamlet. Henrik Ibsen is a not so well known author but wrote a great rival play named A Doll’s House. These two plays were extraordinary for their time and there has been much controversy and debates on which play made the greatest impact to culture and society. These two plays, written in very different time periods, show alternative views on society and how it should be.

    Read More

More about Gender Relations in A Doll’s House and How Did I Miss You?

Open Document