Jasonna Chambers Mrs.

Smith-Arrants Honors English II 03 May 2012 A Family Philosophy Throughout history, a family unit has typically had the same structure and expectations between relationships within the family. Over time the classic families relations have slowly shift but are still relevant in most aspects of the home. In 1874 a Norwegian play writer, Henrik Ibsen, introduced the realistic drama A Dolls House that included an array of controversial issues. Amongst these issues, the depiction of family relations was discussed. From the beginning of the book Torvalds wife, Nora, is portrayed as an innocent housewife with little responsibility. As you continue reading A Dolls House, you quickly realize Nora is not innocent, but full of little white lies. Torvald is the provider of the household. He treats Nora like a child, in a manner that is both kind and patronizing. He does not view Nora as an equal but rather as a plaything or doll to be teased and admired. Though many current day readers would view this as outrageous, it was a widely excepted outlook of women in that time period. The play, A Dolls House exemplifies how issues of control, responsibility, and sacrifice affected family relationships during this particular time period. In the stereotypical family, the control roles are clearly stated. The husband is the head of the household and the mother is in charge of the children. Like most plays of its time, A Dolls House did not stray far away from this idea. Torvald was doubtfully in control of the majority of Noras actions and beliefs, including those opinions in which most people assume they are entitled to. When speaking to his wife, Torvald often refers to her with demeaning pet names. In

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doing this, he gains control of her by belittling her judgment on everything. At one point when having a conversation, Nora states ; everything I think of seems so silly and insignificant (Ibsen 26). As the reader, I expected that Torvald, being her husband would attempt to boost his wifes self-confidence, but instead he replies with Does my little Nora acknowledge that at last? (26). As an effect of constant comments such as these, Nora is continuously being torn down and demeaned; making it easy for Torvald to assume control and remain in control of the household. Responsibility plays a large role in what each individual in a family is supposed to do. In A Dolls House, Torvald is responsible for making all the money and handling all the business aspects involved with their family. On the other hand, Nora is not in charge of much of anything. Due to the work of the nanny, Nora hardly takes care of her own children. As an effect of this family responsibility set up, I believe it tears the family apart. By giving Nora no responsibility in what happens in her family, she starts to feels useless and strives to accomplish something beneficial for her family. While talking to Mrs. Linde, Nora says You are just like the others. They all think that I am incapable of anything really serious ----- (10). By Nora saying this, it shows that she believes that she is capable of more than what she is credited. Since she was so accustom to being classified as incompetent, Nora took great pride in accomplishing something so important as to saving her husbands life. Though most people would be proud about this, Nora found it necessary to be kept a secret from her husband. This is all because it was not her responsibility to take care of him and she was too afraid to venture away from what she is expected to do. Another contributing factor to the mishaps within the family relations between Torvald and Nora is the representation of sacrifice. Though the two think they are doing things that will

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benefit each other, their helpful actions are often enforced by selfish motives. Towards the end of A Dolls House, Torvald is starting to experience feelings of regret after erupting on Nora because of her past choices. As things begin to cool down, he mentions that No man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves (70); Nora response to this by uttering It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done (70). In my opinion, this is one of the strongest lines in A Dolls House because of its significance to the rest of the play. It is not only a sign that Nora is breaking out of her shell of being controlled by Torvald, but also portrays that women have been making sacrifices for men since time began. Also, this line flips the script by patronizing Torvald rather than Nora. Although Torvald has sacrificed much of his time and money to support his family properly and to his best ability, Nora makes the valid point that she has given away her position in society and the entirety of her self- honor simply to be with her husband. Even after making this effective point to Torvald, he does not even take it into consideration because he still is not willing to sacrifice his pride and honor. Family situations vary depending on many factors but generally follow the same structure of family relationships. Issues of control, responsibility, and sacrifice affected family relationships in A Dolls House negatively throughout most of the story. Because Torvald was over controlling, Nora started to lie about things as simple as eating a macaroon so she would not irritate her husband. Also, due to unequal responsibility roles in the family, when Nora felt herself becoming useless to her family, she took things into her own hands. As an effect of neither Nora nor Torvald properly sacrificing for the benefit of the family, nothing was appropriately handled and both felt as if the other did not contribute to the family. In my opinion A Dolls House effectively depicts the typical household during the time period of which it was

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written. Likewise, I believe it addresses dominance problems in family relationships that have yet to be solved to this day.