In “A Doll House” Ibsen made a very controversial act, by having Nora leave her husband and her family. After first reading the play I thought that what Nora did was the right thing to do. But after thinking about I now realize that wasn’t the right thing to do. Yes, Torvald was not the best husband in the world, but Nora should have considered that before she married him. To turn your back on your spouse is one thing, but to turn your back on your children is another. Nora was around in an era were women were looked down upon, not considered equal to men, so it would be hard for her to find a job.
If Nora were to leave her Torvald she would have no were to go. Nora was a doll all of her life, first to her father then to Torvald, if she were to leave more then likely she would just become someone else’s doll. Torvald was not the best husband in the world, but Nora chose to marry him. Nora never really got a chance to know Torvald. Torvald had his eye on Nora from the beginning. So he help her father and for that Nora was grateful, and thus became Mr. & Mrs. Helmer. It sounds like a very romantic story, but little did Nora know what would be in store for her.
Torvald treated Nora like she was his child, I guess that is because he took no part in raising his children the he and Nora had together. If Nora would have taken the time to find out if Torvald was the one for her, then maybe it wouldn’t have taken her eight years to realize that she never really loved him. If you are unhappy in your home then you leave your spouse, but you are never to leave your children. Even though Nora never really spent much time with her children she loved them to death.
When Nora finally decided to turn her back on Torvald she decided to turn her back on her children as well. It might not have affected the children right away, but eventually it would have. Girls need a women figure to talk to about female things. Not only that but if Nora left and then later on down the road decided to enter back into the children’s lives, they might have resentment towards her. Another reason why Nora shouldn’t leave her children is because Torvald may one day decide to remarry.
“She needs to be more to her children than an empty figurehead. Thomas cyberessay. com) The children’s new mother might try to take the place of Nora. If she were to succeed, the children might not remember Nora. But on the other hand maybe she wouldn’t succeed in taking Nora’s place, and that would be very hard on the children as well. Nora was around at a time when women weren’t considered equal to men, so it would be hard for her to get a job, if she could find one at all. “The mere fact that Nora’s well-intentioned action is considered illegal reflects woman’s subordinate position in society.
It can be suggested that woman have power to choose which rules to follow at home, but not in the business world, thus indicating her subordinateness. “(Thomas, cyberessays. com) If Nora were to look for a job she would probably hear a sexist remark like, “shouldn’t you be at home raising the children. ” “Ibsen saw women’s proper role as motherhood, and motherhood only. “(Frank Magil, 1572) It is hard enough in the new millennium for a women to get a good job to support herself, let alone in 1879, when this story took place.
If Nora were to have stayed with Torvald, he could have provided her with everything that she needed or wanted. Torvald would have done anything in his power to make sure that Nora was happy. Another reason that she would not be able to get a job is that she had no skills. The one thing that she could do was sew. That probably would not land her a job at that time though because many women were able to sew around this period. Sewing was considered a women’s job, so that meant that most of the women that went out looking for jobs more than likely ended up with sewing job.
Since there were so many women that knew how to sew, that meant that there was not a demand for them, so they didn’t have to pay the women that much. If she did find a job, it may not pay well being that her level of education was not as high as most men in the workforce. If Nora were to leave Torvald, she would more than likely become someone else’s doll. Nora was a doll all her life, first to her father then to Torvald. Nora knew of nothing else but being a doll. Nora would act like a child to get what she needed.
She would allow Torvald to call her pet names like “squirrel”,”Is that my squirrel rummaging around”(Ibsen, 1240), “lark”, “spendthrift”, and “little bird. ” “Nora was definitely a care free woman, just like a lark, and Torvald refers to her as such. “(Gladstone, gladstone. uoregon. edu) “On the other hand, Nora must be some sort of scrounge, because Torvald also refers to her as his “little squirrel. “(Gladstone, gladstone. com) She would even use sex to get what she wanted. “Her insipidity, her dollishness, comes from the incessant repression of her family life.
Nora has been spoon-fed everything she has needed in life. Never having to think has caused her to become dependant on others. ” (Thomas, cyberessays. com) I feel that even though Nora might have felt that she was making the right decision in leaving Torvald, there were many things that she should have put into consideration. Instead of just leaving before getting a chance to weigh her options. When people are mad they do things out of haste. When she left, she probably realized what all she had done, and asked Torvald to take her back.