Homework assignment: 20 points
1. Write your impressions of either Nora or Torvald in the first Act of Ibsen's A Doll's House. You must write a paragraph that:
- makes a claim (thesis)
- provides evidence (page number) that is introduced with context (at least one example)
- & an explanation of how this evidence backs up your impressions of Nora or Torvald's character
Due: By class on Tuesday. Come and see me before that if you are having trouble. Late work will be given half credit for a 24 hour extension. After this credit will not be given.
39 comments:
Nora is a woman that just loves to spend money on whatever she can get it seems. She is a young woman that is married to a man that is a little bit older than her and is wealthier as well. When she is around torvald she acts like a whole new person and seems like she doesn’t even want to be with him. Also when she sees him she talks about money most the time and he is the one that will give to her. “No, Not only what one needs, but heaps and heaps of money.”(12) That shows how she thinks all you need is money and makes it seem it is like that for everyone that she must no. Also in the first act Nora is asking him for money to get stuff for the Christmas tree and he says how she loves to waste money and she takes control of the situation and tells him what to do with the money. “Spendthrifts- I know. Let us do as you suggest, Torvald, and then I shall have time to think what I am most in want of. That is very sensible plan, isn’t it?”(8) That just shows how he will give in to her when she begs or put up a little fight with him.
Nora is a clever household wife, she could use her abilities to cheat and steal Torvald's money. However, she uses her talents and beauty to do her chores and help her husband in his time of need. Her shopping habits come after everything else. For example on page 16 Nora says during her conversation with Mrs. Linde “Perhaps I got it from a secret admirer.” At this point it seems she’s just using people for there money to shop. Also on page 12 Mrs. Linde says (same conversation), “In our schooldays you were a great spendthrift.” Readers have a reason to believe she's just a shopaholic, but on pages 12 to 13 Nora explains to Mrs. Linde “It was just after Ivar was born…but naturally we had to go. It was a beautiful journey, and it saved Torvald’s life. But it cost a tremendous amount of money”. Maybe she didn’t to keep him alive but, back to page 8, Torvald him self says “if you were really to save out of the money I give you…then really buy something for yourself but if you spend it all on the house…” People are entitled to there opinion of Nora but I believe she is the “man of the house”. She handles most of the house chores and she is able to have a baby and saves Torvald’s life.
Nora seems to care about money more than her husband Torvald. Nora, is a character in a play called “A Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen., when Nora is talking to Mrs. Linde she says she lied about getting the money to save her husband from her dad and Mrs Linde responds by asking why and Nora replies by saying “There is no need you should I never said I had borrowed the money. I may have got it some other way. Perhaps I got it from some other admirer. When anyone is as attractive as I am” (16)… I mean by that comment it shows she had an affair to get money to save her husband and she lied and told people she got the money from her father and didn’t come straight out an tell the truth about everything. It seems like she’s a “Gold Digger” that would do anything for money even if it means having an affair on her husband. Like the difference is her husband loves her not because of the money just for who she is he does and she seems like she just loves him for the money and nothing else I mean yea she did help him when he was sick but just the fact of how she got the money in the first place. Nora kind of seems like a big spender who lies, keeps secrets and tries to hide the truth from someone by saying something completely different to cover up her act in all of it. Like it just doesn’t make sense to me like why would some one that loves her for who she is and not about the money why would Nora be completely different and love the money more than her husband. I mean it doesn’t say it but it seems like it by the information it gives us so far in the book “A Doll House”. It just seems like even though their rich their two different people by the fact Torvald is not into debts or borrowing and doesn’t like to spend much at all. Nora though is different because she likes to spend as much as she can and is always taking advantage of the fact that she is rich and living a wealthy life with a lot of money by her side. Overall they both seem like two different people mixed between two signs of love and money one loving everything he has in life and not over excited about the whole rich part of life and another side is a person that love money and would do anything to have it in her life. But when it all comes down to it you don’t know what’s going to happen cause we haven’t read that much in the book this is all just an big inference on one person in this book and like how their life relies on money and being married. The one thing that probably does make sense is Nora does care about money more than the person that loves her. I think she treats Torvald like one person said in class the lady of house more than the man of house, because Nora takes advantage of it.
In the first act of Ibsen’s A Doll House, Nora has a couple different sides of her personality. When Nora is with her husband Torvald, it’s like she’s a child. He calls her weird, different names. “Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?” (Page 6) “Come, come, my little skylark must not droop her wings. What is this! Is my little squirrel out of temper?” (Page 7) In the beginning of the play, it seems that Nora’s husband is in control of the relationship. Even though her husband brings in the money, she also did before. I have a few impressions on Nora. I believe she is a liar, she loves money more than her husband, and she also had an affair. Nora keeps a deep secret from Torvald and doesn’t want to tell him. When Nora is with a friend, Mrs. Christine Linde, they have a conversation. If Nora acts this way, why is she with Torvald? Is it just for the money? But then again, Nora had borrowed a lot of money but she did to save Torvald’s life. Does she really love him or not? I think that Nora is a smart person but she is also sneaky.
My impressions towards Nora in the first act of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is that her personality changes when she is conversating with her husband, Torvald or when she talks with Mrs.Linde. When the play first begins, Nora acts like a sweet, innocent woman. However, when Mrs.Linde comes in the picture and talks with Nora, her true colors start to show. She seems like she is over confident and has no shame in what she does. On page 16, Nora brings up the fact that she isn’t useless and says that she got the money to go off to Italy for her husband to heal “from some other admirer. When someone as attractive I am”. To prove this evidence as true, she admits to having an affair on page17-18, by saying “I can tell you that this affair has caused me a lot of worry”. From what she says, it shows that she is not embarrassed or ashamed in herself for having an affair behind her husbands back. Although she says that it caused her a lot of worry, I think she was more worried about getting caught than that she would hurt Torvald. I think she loves the attention she gets from Torvald, instead of how he loves her uncontrollably. On page 11, Nora says to Mrs.Linde “so you are quite alone. How dreadfully sad that must be. I have 3 lovely children…I mustn’t be selfish today. However, this is one thing I must tell you, do you know we have just had a great piece of good luck”. This shows that Nora tries to show that she cares about what Mrs.Linde has to say but in reality, she just brags about herself and pretty much rubs Mrs.Linde bad news in her face over and over. Overall, I think Nora has this fake identity and you can’t truly figure out who she is based on just the first act.
Nora is a little woman with a lot of character. She is self proclaimed as “attractive”(16). This points directly to her self confidence, and pompousness when provoked in conversation. These qualities reveal themselves shortly after her role as Torvald’s “little skylark”(7), ends in the midst of conversation between Mrs. Linde and Nora. After being referred to as “a child”(15) by Mrs. Linde, she lashes back with a riveting story of live-or-death. This story consists of a trip to Italy, with her ill husband and a child on the way, financed by no one but Mrs. Nora Helmer herself. She proves herself an independent woman, in a housewife disguise. Nora also proves herself persuasive, a typical and womanly quality, in my personal opinion. Her ability to go along with Torvalt’s million and one pet names, and tell the occasional little-white-lie creates this persuasiveness. Among her many qualities, one very admirable one shies away from the text; Nora is sincere it seems. Nora has done some Christmas shopping, she has purchased “dress-lengths and handkerchiefs for the maids”(7). An unusual gesture for this time period it seems. All these characteristics formulate a generally quirky, ominous young woman, whose intentions mean well. The End.
My impression of Nora (Torvald’s wife) so far has been focused on the fact that she seems to vary in different personalities. Although I believe that Nora is a very supportive and loving wife to her husband, but their relationship seems awkwardly unstable, and in my opinion is mainly held together based on a financial reason or perspective. For example, page 6 quotes Torvald-“Still you know, we can’t spend money recklessly” then Nora quotes “Yes Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn’t we? Just a tiny wee bit! You are going to have a big salary and earn lots and lots of money”. It’s as if money is the number one topic in her head, which is important but shouldn’t allow it control how you act and what you do. Her attitude towards her husband when involving money tells me that she’s persuasive. She takes advantage in getting exactly what she might want at the moment. But I came to find out when talking to others, she’s more humble and less self centered, also uplifting her husband and his success. Overall she’s not all bad for being materialistic rather than being realistic about life. I just personally think that money shouldn’t be used to pursue happiness. Although it would be nice she should focuse on family and relationship.
Nora is a person that likes to waste her husband’s money to buying some sort of useless things and she seems like her husband‘s money more then her husband. In addition, I think she always act likes a young woman to attract her husband or some other guys to get more advantage. When she was little, she’s spendthrift is already appeared, as we can read on page 9, Mrs. Linde says “In our schooldays you were a great spendthrift.” In the other hand, that her husband Torvald says they need to economies her control of spending money. After then she replies an excuse to her husband on page 4 “This is the first Christmas that we have not needed to economies.” I think that is an excuse to spend more money. In generally that I think Nora doesn’t go to work before, she doesn’t really know how hard is the money to get it from, she thinks that money is very easy to earn or maybe she is born in a wealthy family, so that’s why she always spend money to buy some other thing. On the page 4 Torvald says, “That I borrowed fifty pounds to-day, and you spent it all in the Christmas week, and then on New Year’s Eve a slate fell on my head and killed me.” In the quote, we can also know that when the money is in charge by her hands, she will quickly to spend it all the money to buy her stuffs. Therefore, my suggestion is to keep all her money to her husband’s bank account. Whenever she needs money, she has to ask her husband and put a limit in everyday she spends.
Nora seems like a woman who depends on others to get by in life and does not mind. One reason this could be true is, instead of getting her own job, she usually asks her husband Torvald for money. The reader can see this when Nora says “You are going to have a big salary and earn lots and lots of money (pg 4)” to Torvald. Most people feel excited and accomplished to know they have earned the money they are spending, but Nora seems to be more excited about Torvald’s money than he is himself. Another reason why Nora seems dependent on others is she rather have an affair on her husband just to get money the easy way. The affair not only shows Nora cannot take care of herself, it makes her selfish and untrustworthy. The reader can tell she had the affair for the money because Nora tells Mrs. Linde “I never said I had borrowed the money. I may have got it some other way. Perhaps I got it from some other admirer. When anyone is as attractive as I am… (pg 12)”. Nora seems to have some sense of pride in having the affair. Nora does not feel ashamed for doing it either because she says “I can tell you too, that this affair has caused me a lot of worry… I may tell you that there is something that is called, in business, quarterly interest… and it is always so dreadfully difficult to manage (pg 14)”. She is so worried about cheating on Torvald as she is about paying her secret admirer back.
My impression of Nora is that shes selfish and only think of herself, the reason I say this is because when MRS Linder came over Nora house to see her, because they didn’t see each other for 9 or 10 years. When they start to talk Nora was only talking about herself and also criticizing MRS Linde about her husband passing away and leaving her with nothing to go on with her life other than being lonely and a widow (page 11).And also I think Nora is going to live Torvald because they don’t have a healthy relationship, because the only time Nora and Torvald communicate with each other is only when they speaking about money, and she put act in front of Torvald like she’s a faithful wife to him, but she’s only doing to get money from him. I think Nora only eats the macaroons even though she’s not suppose to eat it is to show Torvald that she make her on rules and don’t care what he says to her, and to show him that she’s not who he think she is. I also think that Nora and Torvald marriage is just a act they doing to each other, because of title (A DOLL’S HOUSE).
My impression on Torvald in the first Act of Isben's A Doll's House, he seems to be very sensitive about when it comes to spending money or using money, especially when it’s always coming out his pockets. His Wife Nora is a big spender, and that’s becoming a problem for him. “what are those little people called that are always wasting money?” pg. 5 In this quote Torvald in trying to inform Nora, that she waste money to easily because he is constantly giving her money to spend on things that they will need, but she just keep worrying about her and ask for more. Even though, Nora seems to make Torvald wallet burn, he seems to be strongly in love with her because he gives her all these little names, showing how is loves her. “is that my little lark twittering out there?” pg. 3 “Is it my little squirrel bustling about?” pg. 4 “ Torvald is blind for not seeing that his own wife is just very selfish and soon going to leave with a lot of his money.
In act 1 of Gibson’s A Doll House, Nora seems like a devoted but sneaky wife. She also has a lot of love for her husband. Her love goes as far as to cover up and save his life by what ever means possible, “I have found other ways of making money” (p.18). She works hard for him, and does it all by herself in account of his life, not even hers. She works her body till late at night to the point of exhaustion, “…I locked myself up and sat writing every evening until quite late at nigh, many a time I was desperately tired” (p.18). At first, her personality portrayed one of a gold-digger. But as the act prolongs, we find out that not only she isn’t a gold-digger but she also isn’t a spendthrift. Matter of fact, she is the total opposite of both characteristics. “Papa didn’t give us a shilling. It was I who procured the money” (p.16) is evidence of her not being a gold-digger. And “Whenever Torvald has given me money for new dresses and such things, I have never spent more than half of it; I have always bought the simplest and cheapest things” (p.18) proves that she doesn’t waste money and actually economize very well. We also can see that she lies when her husband asks her if she has not been eating macaroons, her answer is no but she ate a macaroon before summoning him. To conclude it all, in act 1 Gibson does everything on purpose to make our mind falter on the truth. While writing one thing on the text, it actually means something else on the subtext. Nora is a wonderful wife even though she lies to her husband. Her love goes beyond what simple words can express but her action though sneaky defects nothing of what she feels for her husband.
In the first Act of Ibsen's A Doll's House, Nora the wife of Torvald comes off as a “gold digger” a woman who does nothing around the house but beg her husband for money to shop. This is a false impression send out by the Ibsen. In fact, my first impression of Nora was that she wasn’t what she came off to be, because I believe everyone has a deeper meaning behind their actions. At the beginning of the first act, Nora asks her Torvald for money on Christmas, and it seemed like she was just a greedy lady. But later on in the first act, we find out that she has been saving up every bit of the money she receives. We find out later that she owe a massive amount of money from the load she had took out secretly when Torvald needed to have a serious surgery. Till today, she hasn’t told Torvald and so she carries on this burden on her own. She seems to be a very carefree lady, who hasn’t been through anything “tough” but she has gone through enough to speak about. Therefore, Nora’s first impressions are very misleading, but as the reading goes on you see more and more of what she truly is.
In the first Act of Ibsen's A Doll's House, Nora the wife of Torvald comes off as a “gold digger” a woman who does nothing around the house but beg her husband for money to shop. This is a false impression send out by the Ibsen. In fact, my first impression of Nora was that she wasn’t what she came off to be, because I believe everyone has a deeper meaning behind their actions. At the beginning of the first act, Nora asks her Torvald for money on Christmas, and it seemed like she was just a greedy lady. But later on in the first act, we find out that she has been saving up every bit of the money she receives. We find out later that she owe a massive amount of money from the load she had took out secretly when Torvald needed to have a serious surgery. Till today, she hasn’t told Torvald and so she carries on this burden on her own. She seems to be a very carefree lady, who hasn’t been through anything “tough” but she has gone through enough to speak about. Therefore, Nora’s first impressions are very misleading, but as the reading goes on you see more and more of what she truly is.
Pamela Ferreira
9/21/09
Mr. Gallagher
A Doll’s House
Torvald Helmer
In Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, there are two main characters, Torvald Helmer and Nora Helmer, they are a married couple, they seem to live a very prominent lifestyle, both seem to live happy together and deeply in love with each other. Torvald Helmer is a banker, (a common profession in the late 1800’s) and a very lovable husband. For example, Nora comes home from Christmas shopping and walks straight into Torvald’s office and he says, “Is it my little squirrel bustling about?” (Top of pg. 4)
From the quote, we can see that Torvald acts like a goofball and plays around, since he has the job of being a banker, he is also very conservative about money he believes that people should save their money for something useful for example when he’s explaining to Nora that she should conserve her money more, he says,” Indeed it is – that is to say, if you were really to save out of the money I give you, and then really buy something for yourself. But if you spend it all on the housekeeping and any number of unnecessary things, then I merely have to pay up again.” (Bottom of pg. 5)
All in all, this shows that even though Torvald doesn’t talk much in this part of the story, already we see a glimpse of his character, he’s conservative, playful, serious when he needs to be, a thinker, gullible and a wise man; (meaning that he looks at things for what they are) Hopefully, as the story continues, he will show himself more instead of staying in the shadows for so long a time other than being a mysterious character to readers.
In the first act of Ibsen's A doll house,at the begining of the act I thought that Nora is "a gold digger"
as she always ask him for the money (pg.6).And their relation also seems weird because helmer treats her
like a small child and calling her with nicknames like skylark and squirrel.But later going through the story
I found Nora very different.Even though she keep asking him for the money she didnt spend it for herself
and that shows me that she isnt a gold digger.As helmer has mention that at the last christmas she locked
herself in the room for like three weeks (pg.9).But actually she was making money to pay back which she
borrowed for the helmers treatment.That makes me feel that she is a nice person as well as supportive wife.
And yap i also feel like she loves her husband more than her father as she said that she couldnt go
to nurse her father as helmer was sick at that time(pg.13).
This sentence confuse me at first time, that she said that she didnt borrowed the money and may got it some
other (pg.16)this seems like she could do something anything to save her husband life.Some people may think
in different ways but for me I respect her beacuse what ever she did "right or wrong" she did it for her husband
and that really matters.But in (pg.17)she said that if she had an affair that affair will caused her alot of worry.
This shows that she didnt had an affair.That both sentence from (pg.16 and 17)confuse me but at (pg.19)it was just
her imagination and that makes me sure that she was not having an affair.From this whole thing I think that Nora is
really a smart woman with many abilities at the same time she loves her husband.
Nora is Torvald's very sharp, very decieving wife. There's more to her that meets the eye. She knows the independence she rightfully deserves and how to get it without ruinig her relationship with Torvald. She's got a submissive nature, the way she's compliant in her relationship with Torvald, but she's not the wife she pretends to be. She is more aware of what she can get away with than other housewives as far as money goes, and she uses that to the full advantage. She shows this awareness in her conversation with Mrs.Linde on page 13 "...a man who has such strond opinions about things! And besides, how painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know he owed me anything!" Nora states the independence that is taken from her as a housewife and exposes her own little creative way of attaining it. She's not like most women, she plays the role of a loving wife but takes back what should be hers. Basically she gets what she wants in both aspects of love and money, but if she gets caught. Overall, her character fits the depiction of a very reckless woman, willing to risk her relationship for her independence.
In the play A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, Nora is the main character of the play. Nora in the beginning seems like a wife that spends lot of money, that does not care about the economy and does not work.
During the first sentences that we read Nora seems like does not care or does not know the value of money. For example page 1 when she says to the porter “No keep the change”. When her husband ask her what present she wants for Christmas she answers: “You might give me money, Torvaldo”(pg.7. Bottom) On that quotation it is clear that the only thing that she cares about are the moneys. She seems different than everyone else that would love to get presents by the others during Christmas time because she wants only money. Then in page 6 Torvaldo tells or better asks her “Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again”. “spendthrift” and the word “again” made me to think more that she only wants to spend money. But during the conversation between Nora and Mrs.Linde my opinion change lot. It is true that she always asks her husband for money but she has a reason why. The reason is that when her husband got sick they had to move in Italy so he could get better but because they had not money she was obligate to get a loan without her husband noticing. On page 18 she says “…there is something that is called, in business, quarterly interest….”So that means that she had to pay the money and the interest back. But how she was going to do that without money. So that’s why she always asks her husband for money because she saved those. “Last winter I was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do; I locked myself up and sat writing every evening until quite late at night…”(page.18) This quotation shows that she did not get the money only by her husband but she worked too even without her husband permission.
So Nora as we all know is a woman that in a way acted as man. I say this because not every woman would do what she did. She took a loan and did anything to pay it. First of all she lied her husband where the money came from and than she keep lying by asking Torvaldo to give her money to buy stuff for the house and children when in real she buy stuffs but does not spend all the money because she saved to pay. So that makes me think for Nora as a good wife that care about her family more than we can imagine.
My impression of Torvald in the first act of "A Doll House" is that he is very frugal about money.He seems to talk down to Nora for her view on how money should be spent."Thats like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle" (pg. 4) In this quote, Torvald cleary states his feeling on spending money foolishly and not to depend on others by oweing a debt to them.Torvald and Nora have different ideas about handling money.
The other impression that I have about Torvald is that he is more responsible than Nora "Still, you know, we cant spend money recklessly"(pg.4) The author portrays this side of Torvald by small statements continuously made towards Nora, for example he calls her "you extravagant little person"(pg.5) and "you always find some new way of wheedling money out of me, and , as soon as you have got it, it seems to melt in your hands" (pg.6) By taking on the job as a Bank manager, money will be better for them and advises Nora to be careful with money and live as they have been.Although Torvald is the more responsible one with money he seems to give in to Nora becase of his love for her.
In the first act of Ibsen's A Doll's House we meet a woman named Nora who i married to a guy named Torvald. Now Nora has a little problem, she loves to spend money whenever she gets her hands on some. Torvald is a manager at a bank and the only thing Nora cares about is all the money Torvald is gonna make and all the money she gonna get from him ( "Yes, tremendous! ... " top of page 9 ). This shows that the only thing that is on Nora's mind is money and only money she dosent care about Torvald being a manager at a back she only cares about his money. Another about Nora is that she would do anything for money. Torvald and Nora went to Italy and Torvald got sick and they needed money for a doctor. Nora went out and at an affair on Torvald to get him some money for the doctor ( " but how horrid of me; I am talking of nothing but my own affairs " pg 10 ). this shows that Nora went above and beyond to get her hands on some money. For me that is what my first impression of Nora is, a person who loves to spend money when ever she gets her hands on it and a person who would go above and beyond for money.
Torvald comes off as a responsible person. Here Torvald says, “ Still, you, know, we can’t spend money recklessly” showing he has to watch out for Nora by giving her smart advice. Nora seems to really like money. Torvald called her out on being a “spendthrift” here, “You can’t deny it, my dear little Nora. It‘s a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of money. One would hardly believe how expensive such little persons are!” Which further proves Nora may need to ease back on her obsession on money. Torvald treats Nora as a child at times. Here he says, “ (wagging his finger at her). Hasn’t Miss Sweet- Tooth been breaking rules in town today?” Which shows Torvald belittling her and keeping tabs on her. Nora is also more caring around Mrs. Linde, when Mrs. Linde tells her to continue talking Nora says, “ No, you must begin. I mustn’t be selfish to-day; I must only think of your affairs.” Showing she can be calm and caring towards others. Also that she has a lot of respect for Mrs. Linde. Nora is also over confident of herself here, “ I have always bought the simplest and cheapest things. Thank Heaven, any clothes look well on me.” Showing she’s a little cocky and a bit too materialistic.
Nora is the wife of Torvald in the play A Dolls House. Torvald is very a very wealthy man, which is the main reason for Nora’s Marriage to Torvald. For example on pg. 7, Torvald asks Nora what she would like for herself and she is hesitant with what she says before she quickly exclaims, “Well you might give me more money, Torvald”. Her priorities are always material related and money rather than the value of her relationship with Torvald. At times Torvald also treats Nora like a kid on a joking way sometimes. Calling her all types of names like squirrel, skylark, and spendthrift when she uses up a great deal of money. Torvald however comes off from such a different place. For one thing he is very careful about his finances. Telling her “We just can’t spend money recklessly” on pg. 4, after she goes out and buys a slew of stuff. It also seems to me like Torvald cares very much for Nora. Calling her, “My sweet skylark” and “squirrel” and other names. However whenever he feels that Nora messed up, he tells her. For example after she spends the money, he makes the statement “Every time you have it, it melts in your hand” pg 6. I have a feeling however that something serious I going to to happen to their relationship as the story progresses.
Falonne Henry
9-22-09
English 12 CP
Mr. Gallagher
Assignment: A Doll’s House
My impressions about Nora
After I have read the play about A Doll’s House, I realize that Nora does not have a cheerful life because the way her husband treats her like a “ little girl” and also by using terms such as “ little Lark” or “little spendthrift” . Her husband pretends that he loves her but he does not know how to control that love through his reactions toward Nora. “ It is a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of money. One hardly believe how expensive such little persons are” P4 and P6. Nora’s husband also named her a little squirrel. Nora really isn’t as wretched or an irresponsible girl like Torvald considers her because when Nora was talking to her friend Mrs. Linde, she revealed a secret that she have not tell her husband about. By pointing this quote: “ Papa did not give us a shilling. It was I who procured the money ….Do you mean never tell him about it?” P 12-13. In that period of time ,women didn’t right to decide without their husband’s consent. Maybe it was the only possibility that she could find to help herself out of being under some situation that she could not handle anymore and also to be independent.
In, A doll's house, by Henrik Ibsen, is mainly focused on the characters of Nora and Torvald. Torvald is a rich man who just recieved a raise in pay. Nora on the other hand is his wife that, to me, only married him and stays with him for money. i feel as if though she is a money hungry driven person. On page 5 when Torvald asks Nora to state a particular thing she would like for a present. Nora responds with " If you really want to giv me something, you might--you might-... You might give me money. this statement just shows how Nora goes by everyday only thinking about money and herself and does not care for Torvald like a real married woman should care. Something I also noticed was somehow no matter what the conversation is about, Nora somehow gets money involved into it. She must be doing something right for Torvald.
In Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Nora is characterized as greedy yet giving at the same time. She always asks Helmer for money all the time, yet spends it, then she asks for more.
In the first scene in the book she shows her sensitive side by buying a Christmas tree and tells the guy to keep the change. (pg.1) In the next scene however she is arguing with Helmer for money. (pg.3-4) Her need for money is insatiable. As much as she gets, she doesn’t have enough. She always ends up spending it. In the first scene she shows this irresponsibility by letting the porter keep the change. Later on she pulls out a loan. She’ll probably be even more in debt. She’ll spend all the money and not realize the taxes that come with taking out a loan. (pg. 5-6) Her debt will be large including the fact she owes Helmer money. Nora is just greedy. Her need for money will never end. Her insatiable need for money is leading to desperateness. Her life will be spent paying debt until she gets smart and learns how to save and make an investment. I predict she will find a way to overcome this debt with a little help from her friends.
After the first act of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, my impressions of Torvald is that he is very cautious with his money, he doesn’t like to spend his money recklesslu and he loves his wife Nora. Nora is the opposite of Torvald when it comes to money, so she asks him for money a lot of times. He on the other hand tells her does not like to spend money unless he knows he can. We see this about him when he say “Still, you know, we can’t spend money recklessly” pg 6. Nora, she seems to not understand the fact that he doesn’t have the job yet so they can not just spend money. He got a good job but he only starts “…after the New Year…” (pg 6) so “it will be a whole quarter before the salary is due”(pg 6) He knows that and tells her but she insists and he loves her so much that he gives in to her desires. We see this on page 7 where it shows that he gave her money after she was insisting so much about it “There you go(gives her some money)”. These are my impressions of Torvald after the first act of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.
In Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, Torvald is married to Nora who likes to spend money. Torvald is getting a new job after the New Year and he will be making more money. Unlike Nora, Torvald does not like to spend money on useless things. However, he loves his wife and would give her anything. On page 7 Torvald says, “Come, come, my little skylark must not droop her wings… Nora what do you think I have got here?” Torvald is very playful with Nora and calls her different nicknames, such as skylark and spendthrift. These nicknames are given to her because she spends money on things she doesn’t need. Torvald does not like to spend money foolishly and he is more responsible when it comes to spending money. On page 6 Torvald says, “That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing…” This shows that Torvald only wants to spend money on what he has to. He does not want to borrow from anyone and he would rather wait until the New Year when he actually has money to spend it. He is also looking out for his family when he tells Nora that he does not want to borrow money. “… Suppose, now, that I borrowed fifty pounds to-day, and you spent it all in the Christmas week, and then on New Year’s Eve a slate fell on my head and killed me, and-“(pg. 6) He just wants his family to have money in case anything ever happened to him. But if Nora spent all of their money before Torvald’s new job, his family would be poor.
In act one of Ibsen’s In A Doll House Torbalt and Nora are two unique characters. While Torbalt is expressing his love for his wife Nora, Nora continually expresses her love for money. Their relationship is quite strange they seem very much in love but at the same time they seem as though they are on to completely different pages. The author portrays Nora’s character to be money hungry, spoiled and selfish. On page 6 Torbalt and Nora are discussing their money status for the year when Torbalt gets his raise and Nora is excited about how much shopping she is going to be able to do with all the new money but she is not thinking about the fact that they don’t even have it yet and she is already ready to start spending it. Torbalt corrects her and tells her that they don’t even have the money yet and she doesn’t care she wants to borrow it till the money gets there. But because Nora is spoiled on page 7, Torbalt ends up giving her more money, the same money he was telling her they need to save. Nora proves to be selfish when her old time friend Mrs. Linde comes over to visit after not seeing each other for years and all Nora talks about is how wonderful her life is and she never has to want for any thing. On page 11 Nora randomly brings up the fact that Mrs. Linde is a widow and acts like she feels sorry for her at first and then she begins to tell her continually ask her about her late husband not leaving her any thing, just left her alone with no kids and Nora expresses how bad she feels for her because she has two kids and they are wonderful. Also on page 14 Mrs. Linde opens up to Nora about her mothers’ death and how she was taking care of her before she pasted away and Nora replies to her “what a relief you must feel it-”. Only someone with a cold selfish heart would say that to a friend after finding out about their mothers’ death.
Overall, people have different impressions of Torvald. In the first act, my impression of Torvald is that he is gullible and a goofy, corny person and a money saver . I think that Torvald is a goofy person because on page 3 he says, " Is my little lark twittering out there?" That basically shows that Torvald likes to say things in funny ways. Also in the book we find out that he is a money saver of how he tells nora on pg 4 "still, you know, we cant spend money recklessly". this shows that torvald is trying to same his money because they both know that need to save money other than spend it. finally how i believe torvald is gullable ,torvald gives nora some money for house keeping on the top of page 5 (torvald hands nora money) nora says "one pound two pounds oh thank you thank you". this is what i belive the main impression that the author is trying to reveal of the character of torvald being gullible. torvald has a lot of different impressions that impact other people but the three things that stuck out to me the most were torvald being a gullible, goofy person and happens to be a money saver
My first impression of Nora in act I was that she was kind of a gold digger, that always wants money from her husband, I also think that she’s very conceited because she knows she’s pretty and young, she is also very smart, and a bit of a compulsive liar. On page 8 she says “oh do! Dear Torvald; please do! Then I will wrap it up in beautiful gilt paper and hang it on the Christmas tree. Wouldn’t that be fun?” in this line her husband Torvald has asked her what she wanted for Christmas, and instead of wanting a gift she wants money. This is one of the quotes that gave me the impression that she was a gold digger, and that money was the most important thing for her. In this act I got the impression of Nora by imagining the tone that the author writes her lines in. the tone of her lines are kind of very calm, kind of begging for it, and also by acting childish. That’s how her husband gives in to it; she knows what to do and how to do it to get anything out of him. I also think that she’s is very clever, and a bit of a liar; she lies to her husband about eating macaroons and that shows that she’s very much capable of lying about something bigger.
My first impression of Nora in act I was that she was kind of a gold digger, that always wants money from her husband, I also think that she’s very conceited because she knows she’s pretty and young, she is also very smart, and a bit of a compulsive liar. On page 8 she says “oh do! Dear Torvald; please do! Then I will wrap it up in beautiful gilt paper and hang it on the Christmas tree. Wouldn’t that be fun?” in this line her husband Torvald has asked her what she wanted for Christmas, and instead of wanting a gift she wants money. This is one of the quotes that gave me the impression that she was a gold digger, and that money was the most important thing for her. In this act I got the impression of Nora by imagining the tone that the author writes her lines in. the tone of her lines are kind of very calm, kind of begging for it, and also by acting childish. That’s how her husband gives in to it; she knows what to do and how to do it to get anything out of him. I also think that she’s is very clever, and a bit of a liar; she lies to her husband about eating macaroons and that shows that she’s very much capable of lying about something bigger.
Post a Comment