Who am I?...Who am I to you?

In the song "Everybody's Fool" by Evanescence, Amy Lee sings "Perfect by nature/ Icons of self indulgence/ Just what we all need/ More lies about a world that/ Never was and never will be / Have you no shame? Don't you see me?/ You know you've got everybody fooled."

Amy Lee sings about how in today's society we need to be a certain way to be accepted. As well as, how because we act the way we are accepted we don't know that we are "Everybody's fool" because we are the ones losing our true selves.

part of the official video of "Everybody's Fool"

You see the meaning of these lyrics happening to Nora. You see this because Nora is so used to putting on a front for everyone that she has lost her own identity, or it could simply be that she never found it. In today's world you can see this happening to many teenagers and young adults because of the mass media and peer pressure. However, because of all these pressure that we experience we end up finding ourselves, I think. At the end of the play, Nora leaves because she realizes that something is wrong and that maybe who she thought that Torvald is, turns out that he isn't. She had a rude awakening in that way. For young adults today, the it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad marriage for us to realize that we need to change something in our lives. It is usually when something bad has happened, whether its a death or that we get into trouble when we finally realize that we need to change.

What we do for love...

"We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love - first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage." - Albert Camus, Nobel Peace prize winner for literature

 When I think of this quote I connect it with how when you are in love with someone you don't really see the bad in them at first. When we have spent some time together, we begin to see the bad and fall out of love. At first its an advantage, and then a disadvantage. That is what happened with Nora and Torvald's marriage.

Nora and Torvald during the scene of discovery

She thought that he was going to be there for her just like she was for him by getting that loan to save his life. In response, she wanted him to say that it was his fault and not hers. In that essence this quote is perfect for Torvald. He was so in love with her when she was  "living" for him and giving a very good image in their world, but when it turned out that she did something illegal (getting a loan through forgery) he went ballistic on her and called her all these things.

He had an image of what she was supposed to be and when she stepped out of it, he didn't love her anymore.

This reminded me of how there are so many people with expectation of what others are like that this is how stereotypes start. It reminds me of how we don't ever really know someone because we are not in the person's mind, however we think we know them and because of this when we are let down we feel such disappointment because the person that disappointed us has just broken the image of what we see them as.

Invisibility or Death?

Dr. Rank

"The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living." - Marcus Tulius Cicero

In A Doll's House Dr. Rank is the only person that Nora talks freely with and seems as though he is the only person she trusts completely. In Dr. Ranks view of Nora, she is the love of his life and will do anything for her.

This quote reminded me of when Doctor Rank is confirming to Nora and her husband that he is dieing and bankrupt. He says that for next years masquerade ball he will be invisible and that Nora should stay dressed normally. He says that because unless they remember him, and think of him then he will disappear completely from their lives. He will lose his connection with Nora.

For Dr. Rank the only thing that he will miss is Nora. But he doesn't think that he will be missed.

In our time right now, it reminds me of how there are so many people that are in debt because of the economic recession and that how so many people can't repay those debts that they think about committing suicide. Although Dr. Rank is sick, I don't believe that he is at the point of terminal illness and has only one day to live as how the play makes it seem due to his father's affairs. The many people that do end up committing suicide are those that are so far into debt that they are receive calls from  collection agencies.

What do you see when you look at me?

Before the Mirror - Manet

In A Doll's House, a major aspect of the life that Nora leads is based on image and what she looks like to everyone, especially to Torvald, who wants her to look the best that she can.

At the beginning Nora acts like a child without any consideration for others. However, as the play continues we notice that she actually is aware of what she is doing, she is simply following the norms of the time that she lived in. In fact, the main job of women was to look good and create the appearance of a happy home and marriage to the outside world and at home, even if she was not happy.

The painting that you see, Before the Mirror by Manet reminded me of Nora when Torvald tells her that lying can cause the children to become bad and misbehave because they will follow the behavior of the mother. Afterward, Nora looks at a mirror hanging on the wall.

Nowadays, there are so many things that are considered looking good in our culture and society.  For example, there are so many women that are getting plastic surgery to make sure that they are accepted by society just like Nora does by pushing down her opinions and making sure that she looks exactly right. Also, we do know that the environments that we grow up in shape us but it is not just the mother that causes us to be "bad" its also whole as a family and what we experienced.

Life as a Doll

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen is realistic fiction that is very dramatic. It is "Ibsen's best-known play [that] displays his genius for realistic prose drama." (Goodreads). It is a play about women in the eighteenth century and what their lives were like at the time. 

18th century woman

Some of the major points of life at that time were: 

- women were nurtures 

- the men took care of the women

- the men were also considered superior while the women were inferior

- the jobs of women consisted of:

• needlework
• sketching 
• flower arranging

- women also had very few legal rights:

• could not sign contracts
• could not gain custody of children if divorced (made legal in 1857)

- 80% of the population was working class 

- to be considered middle class you had to have a  servant and it was very important to be considered middle class

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major Norwegian playwright. He is considered the father of modern realistic drama. The reason that Ibsen is considered the father of modern realistic drama is because Ibsen introduced a critical eye to the conditions of life and the influences of the environment and inner psychological motivation. Because Ibsen lived in the Victorian age, when they expected the dramas to be moral with a main character that has a battle with someone that is immoral and the main character would be the victor. Ibsen challenged this view and because of it that he was not very popular.

A Doll's House is about a woman named Nora that is married to Torvald (a.k.a Helmer) in the eighteenth century. Nora is seemingly really happy and content with her life. However, as the story continues we (the readers) notice that maybe not all is as it seems in the Helmer household. We see many things that begin to bother us and we find the main conflict in the story. Because of this conflict the whole story falls apart, causing a complete change in the life of Nora.