4th Response

4th Informal response

During Act III, things definitely take a turn of the characters of Nora, and Mrs. Linde. When reading the play in the beginning NORa seems like a very family oriented type of person, but by the end of Act III Nora has really entered a new stage in her life. Nora has decided to leave both her husband and kids! She did this because she wanted to find her own real independence as a woman. On the other hand Mrs. Linde has decided that her independence is not as important to her and she decided to marry Krogstad, and take care of his family. As we learn throughout reading Mrs. Linde likes to be depended on by others, and her own independence doesn't really make her all that happy. Both Nora and Mrs. Linde finally due seemed to be fulfilled with their new choices, which is ultimately what is important. Both these women have chosen the destiny or fate as they see it, with any male consent. What I see the author is focusing is on, is not the fact that they were able to make their own choices, or the actual choices they made, but the fact that both women made the choices themselves. Back when this play was first written, it does make sense as to why he focuses on this, because it was not the norm back then for a woman to make a decision without a man involved. So you can see that, that is a big difference from today society. In today's society a woman can make a decision by herself, and no one would even think twice about it. When i first started reading this play i never would have thought it would have taken this turn. But, it made the play way more interesting! Overall i thought the play was pretty good, it was a little difficult to relate to, due to the fact it was written such a long time ago. but, it was interesting to see the different style of writing, and also how much times change year to year. 

http://www.marxists.org/subject/women/fiction/ibsen/doll/ch03.htm

http://www.gradesaver.com/a-dolls-house/study-guide/section3/

3rd Response

3rd Response

Towards the end of Act II I could see much more development in Nora's character. This growth mainly came from the issues nora was having, keeping the secret from her husband. It seems to be that one of Nora's biggest fear is that her husband and others will find out about what she did. She will do anything for people not to find out, even tell lies after lies. What she does not realize is telling lies, can make things worse for her. It has become apparent to me what Nora is kind of a liar, and that she doesn't really want people to know the truth about her. One example of this is that she hides the fact that she is eating the macaroons from her husband (Isben 1). This is just one small way in which she shows the lying, and sneaky aspect of who she is. The bigger way in which we can see this side of her is with this whole loan situation. When they were scores seas in Europe her husband go very ill, and they needed a way to pay the hospital bill. Meanwhile during that whole situation Nora's father was dying. So what Nora did to get the money was borrow money, and forge her fathers signature. Back in the day is was not allowed for women to borrow or loan money, especially from a man (Isben 4).  This was the secret she has been hiding from her husband throughout the whole play, and seeing as though it was not the proper thing for women to do back then, it does make sense why she is lying, but it still does not give her a right to lie to her own husband. Another big thing that show lied about was that she never actually told her husband how sick he was. She says "It was necessary that he should have no idea what dangerous condition he was in" (Isben 4). Due to all these secrets, she has to keep covering them up with lies. For example when her husband gave her money she kind of just joked around and said she would go and buy dresses but really she would use it to pay off her loan. She said "Whenever Torvald has given me money for new dresses and such things, I have never spent half of it." (Isben 5). Since she cant ask her husband to help her pay the loan off, this is really the only way that she can get the loan paid off. I think that her husband is eventually going to find out about the loan, and he will be really upset, but in the end he will forgive her to show her that she never had to lie to him in the first place. But that is only my prediction. The more I continue to read the more I want to know what will happen next.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/goldman/Writings/Drama/doll.html

2nd Response

2nd Outside Reading Response

Continuing reading this play it keeps getting more interesting. I have now reached a point in the play where Mrs. Linde and and Nora are having a discussion about what has been going on in their lives since they had last seen each other. for example their good doings, accomplishments, and other details in between. At first it seemed as though Nora did not really have much to say, but Mrs. Linde on the other hand did. As I kept reading though Nora poured out one of her deepest secrets to Mrs. Linde. She had told her about when her and her husband were stuck in Europe for a really long time (Isben 15-21). They could not leave Europe due to her husband Helmer's illness.  For them to leave they had to pay a great deal of money, that they did not have at that time. Nora did confess to using all their money for her needs. So, Nora told her that they had to go through a very risky procedure to get the money they needed. I found it to be quite interesting that she would forge her own father's signature to access money. Her father was ill, and he could not sign but still the fact that she didn't even ask his permission, or even tell him was kind of surprising. That is a very dangerous, and illegal thing to do. When explaining the story to Mrs. Linde, Nora explained that she thought it was a risk worth taking, even know all the repercussions that could happen to her. To this day, her husband does not know that she had done this for him. the only person who now knows is Mrs. Linde. My overall reaction to this was I was kind of surprised, and I thought it was a little weird. I feel like she should have at least to her father, and if not him than her husband so that incase she did get into trouble someone else but her knew what was going on. Lets say she did get in trouble for forging the signature, and she had told her husband, he could defend her and help her get out of the situation, rather then her having to go through it alone. 

After Nora had told Mrs. Linde all of this, she barely had a reaction. Instead she just brought up the fact that she needed to fins a job, now that she was on her own. After reading this section I kind of feel like maybe the only reason that Mrs. Linde came to see Nora, was for Nora to help her find a job. I think that Mrs. Linde is not a genuine person, and she is just using Nora.
http://www.enotes.com/dolls-house-text/act-i

1st Response

A Dolls House Act One First Response

The first Act of a dolls house introduces some of the main characters in the story. The first person you meet is Nora and she seems like a sweet innocent lady who is kind of a shopoholic. The we meet her husband Helmer who seems like a man who wants everything under control. He also got a a new job at a bank, and is making much more money now, which seems to make Nora extremely happy.A Dolls House begins with the husband and wife Nora, and Torvald, having a discussion. While they are talking you first think that Torvald Helmer is talking to his daughter but then later you realize it is his wife.  Another question I would love to ask the author is, is why he would have the dialogue like this. Did he want to make Helmer seem like the head of the house, or like he was superior to women. This is how certain parts of the dialogue between the husband and the wife came across to me. It was not the actual words he was saying, it was the way it seemed he said creation things to her. but then again it is a play this is just the way that i interpreted the conversation between the two of them. Later on we also meet the character Mrs. Linde who we do not know really much about other than she is a widow, her mother died, and she has two younger brothers who she no longer has to take care of or provide for (Isben 14). So another question that i would have for the author would be about Mrs. Linde. She kind of just came into the story with really knowing much about her, and every time we start to find something out it seemed like Nora would interrupt her and tell more about herself. Why would the author not really let us know who she really is? Act one of the play does not really tell us where she came from or really who Mrs. Linde is. Hopefully reading on there will be an explanation of how Mrs. Linde ended up at Nora's house. The first act of the play definitely leaves more to come, and also many more questions to be answered based on what this play is about. But, as far as everything has gone up, to this point in the story, i am definitely enjoying it!
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/840229/a_dolls_house_literary_analysis_.html