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Doll House

 

            Every story has a theme, the central meaning, or dominant idea in a literary work. As for the story A Doll House, one of the themes is appearance vs. reality. In the beginning of the story, all of the characters appear one way but by the end of the story, the reality of one another is in a different direction. In A Doll House, Nora and Torvald have put on a mask, as well as their friends, but by the end, everyone finds out the truth about one another.
             Nora seems to be real spoiled, materialistic, unintelligent, and money hungry to most people, even her close friend Mrs. Linde. "How very kind of you, Nora, to be so concerned over me - doubly kind, considering you really know so little of life's burdens yourself." Nora appears to be the homemaker that has no idea what goes on in the real world, when in reality she does know a great deal. Nora took her husband's life into her own hands. She realized that he was going to die if she could not get him to take out a loan for them to stay in the south for a while. Since Torvald refused to take out a loan, she decided to forge her father's signature and illegally take out a loan for her husband's sake. Nora is now taking on the responsibility herself to get the loan paid off. She has been working and she has been doing without many things that she would like but that are not a necessity for her. "Every time Torvald gave me money for new clothes and such, I never used more than half; always bought the simplest, cheapest outfits. It was a godsend that everything looks so well on me that Torvald never noticed. But it did weigh me down at times, Kristine. It is such a joy to wear fine things. You understand.".
             Torvald just seems to be the organized, dominant male of the house. He loves to treat Nora as though she is his little doll. Everyone believes that Nora is the money hungry, materialistic wife of the house, when really she is just trying to be the wife the Torvald wants he to be.


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