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A review by alaag
A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
3.0
This is a really short read, less than 80 pages long.
While it wasn't exactly riveting in the beginning, the last 10 or so pages took such a major turn and a huge jump in Nora's character development that I had to read every sentence twice to take it in.
Nora is a very interesting character. She acts childlike and heavily dependent and naive, due first to how her father treated her and then to how her husband (who's a misogynistic oaf) treats her. She herself said that she's been blocked in her life, by the men who loved her the most. In front of them, she reverts to a 5 year old but in truth she's actually quite manipulative (which requires quite a measure of intelligence) and displays that she can carry her own.
The book actually does deal with quite a bit of social issues. From male pride and honour to the restricted role assigned to Nora as a woman.
Helmer is a good representation of the traditional male ego and masculinity that is so fragile it needs to dwarf and ridicule traditional female femininity. He is completely controlling of Nora and makes her heavily dependent on him and always uses terms such as "My money" "My bla bla". He also treats Nora herself like a possession. Something to flaunt and to be pretty - and she's aware of that as she planned to have kept her secret as leverage for when she's not so pretty anymore.
I could go on more but I'm still hung up on the last 10 pages.
While it wasn't exactly riveting in the beginning, the last 10 or so pages took such a major turn and a huge jump in Nora's character development that I had to read every sentence twice to take it in.
Nora is a very interesting character. She acts childlike and heavily dependent and naive, due first to how her father treated her and then to how her husband (who's a misogynistic oaf) treats her. She herself said that she's been blocked in her life, by the men who loved her the most. In front of them, she reverts to a 5 year old but in truth she's actually quite manipulative (which requires quite a measure of intelligence) and displays that she can carry her own.
The book actually does deal with quite a bit of social issues. From male pride and honour to the restricted role assigned to Nora as a woman.
Helmer is a good representation of the traditional male ego and masculinity that is so fragile it needs to dwarf and ridicule traditional female femininity. He is completely controlling of Nora and makes her heavily dependent on him and always uses terms such as "My money" "My bla bla". He also treats Nora herself like a possession. Something to flaunt and to be pretty - and she's aware of that as she planned to have kept her secret as leverage for when she's not so pretty anymore.
I could go on more but I'm still hung up on the last 10 pages.