Literary Analysis Of A Doll's House

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A dolls House written by Henrik Ibsen is a required text in most high school English classes, and it was not a big surprise when I saw it on the syllabus for my Women in the Marriage Market course. A Dolls House is a play that takes place in Norway around 1879 in a very patriarchal society compared to today. The overarching theme was the battle between the appearances of someone’s life versus their reality. The difference of what the characters life’s seemed to be like versus what was actually going on. The play starts off with the main characters, Nora and Torvald whom seem to have a happy marriage. A marriage where the woman stays home and takes care of the house has kids and does not make major decisions. A marriage where the man is the prideful bread winner who provides for his wife and kids. A …show more content…

The conversation is mostly about Torvalds new job and what that is going to mean for the family, Nora tells Torvald that they will be able to be more reckless in spending now because of the big salary coming in. Torvald explains that even though his salary will rise, it will be after the New Year, and it will be a whole quarter before the salary is due. Nora suggests that until then they can borrow money until they are able to pay it back that is when Torvald explains his views on loans saying “But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle.” (pg 5). That is where we find out how against loans he is, the way he reacted must be of some importance for the rest of the play, that’s when we find out Nora’s secret. Nora comes clean to Mrs. Linde, she confides in letting her know that he life is not a perfect or happy as it

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