Nora's Relationships In “A Doll House“
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Nora’s Relationships
The story “A Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen is about a young woman named Nora, who is trying to cope with a secret she has kept away from her husband, Torvald. Torvald thinks that Nora received the money from her father, for medical treatment, to save his life. He does not believe in loans. But the real story is Nora borrowed the money from Krogstad, a person who works for Torvald. Everyone who knows Nora considers her as a helpless young woman, who cannot survive in the world by herself. In “A Doll House”, Henrik Ibsen uses conflict to show Nora’s subservient relationship with Torvald, Nora’s Hostile relationship with Krogstad, and Nora’s misunderstood relationship with Kristine.
The first relationship showing conflict is Nora’s subservient relationship with Torvald. When Torvald talks to Nora he talks to her as if Nora was his child. He calls Nora his “squirrel” and his little lark. Torvald approaches Nora as if she was his doll telling her what to do and when to do things. Torvald does not like Nora’s “sweet tooth” eating macaroons, so she hides them from Torvald whenever she knows he is around. With Torvald thinking of Nora as a child, she thought she could persuade him into not firing Krogstad. But her husband thinks that it is nonsense and just ignores Nora and sends a letter for Krogstad’s dismissal. The author shows how much Torvald sees Nora as a doll that is dependent on him and only him.
Nora’s hostile relationship with Krogstad was a relationship with many unfriendly visits. Krogstad was the only person who knew about Nora’s secret, because he was the person that she borrowed the money from. When Krogstad heard that Nora’s friend Kristine was going to take Krogstad’s place at his job, he manipulates Nora’s actions and behavior by her influence on her husband to keep his job. He told Nora how he figured out that she forged her father’s signature t...