January Monthly Blog

Sam Muscella
Mrs. Burnett
AP English
27 January 2016
Monthly Blog
Throughout A Doll's House, the life of Nora and Torvald seems perfect from an outside view, but as a reader being able to get a glimpse of their inner lives, we know that their life is far from perfect. Torvald tries to make everything perfect. He likes to treat Nora like a doll by dressing her, controlling her, calling her pet names, etc. This is all an attempt to make himself seem like he has complete control of his household. Nora, on the other hand, tries with all her power to help Torvald, she forges her father's signature just so that she can afford a trip in an attempt to save Torvald's life. Everything she does for Torvald she does out of the goodness of her heart, but Torvald never thanks her. At the end of the play, he even says that she has done a horrible action and that it has ruined their lives, he isn't worried about her, just that they need to find a way to preserve the facade that is their life. In one article statistics show that, "One quarter of married people are no longer ‘in love’ with their partner, 15% wish they had married someone else altogether and three in10 have considered ending their marriage or spending time apart." By the end of the play, both sides seem to have fallen out of love, Nora also leaves Torvald. Since it is never revealed that Nora had any financial security after leaving Torvald, it makes her decision all the more noble, she left this unhappy relationship despite being a woman in the Victorian era. She had no way to know if her life would be stable or not after the split. The article also says, "Women were most likely to cite a fear of being unable to cope financially as their biggest reason for not separating, while men were most worried about the impact it would have on the family." This shows in Torvald, because despite the actions Nora took to help him, he was only concerned about how her actions would make them look, that her actions would tarnish their family's reputation. I really admire Nora for her actions and I feel bad for her. Torvald never said thank you to her, she risked everything just to make sure that he lived. She wanted to save his life even though he was a rude, and controlling jerk. I also admire her because despite the odds, she still left. She would be shunned in society because she left her husband, but that didn't change her opinion or actions. She had the courage to leave because she wanted to escape from Torvald's control, she wanted to control her own life, not have it decided for her.

*Sorry I couldn't post it last night my internet was down*